MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia hopes to normalize ties with the US and join efforts in the fight against international terrorism.
Speaking in a live state-of-the-nation address, Putin said that Russia is ready to take part in tackling global challenges if its interests are respected.
“We don’t want confrontation with anyone,” he said in a speech before officials and lawmakers in an ornate, white-marble Kremlin hall.
“Unlike our foreign colleagues who are seeing Russia as an enemy, we have never been looking for enemies, we need friends,” Putin said. “But we won’t allow any infringement on our interests and neglect of them.”
Russia’s relations with the West have plummeted to a post-Cold War low over the Ukrainian crisis and the war in Syria. During the US election campaign, President Barack Obama’s administration accused Russia of hacking American political sites and e-mail accounts in an effort to interfere with the vote. The Kremlin has rejected the accusations.
“In the last few years. we have faced attempts of foreign pressure with all tools involved — from the myths about Russian aggression, (allegations) of meddling in elections to the hounding of our athletes,” Putin said, referring to doping scandals.
Putin said that Russia is looking forward to mending ties with the US after President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“We are ready for cooperation with the new American administration,” he said. “It’s important to normalize and develop our bilateral ties on an equal and mutually beneficial basis. We share responsibility for ensuring global security and stability and strengthening the non-proliferation regime.”
Putin added that Moscow hopes to pool efforts with Washington in confronting international terrorism.
“Our servicemen in Syria are fulfilling that task,” he said.
Russia has conducted an air campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, helping his forces make significant gains, most recently in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city before the war.
In the speech that was mostly focused on economic and social issues, Putin said that the Russian economy is on the way to recovery, pointing at a growth in some sectors of industry and agriculture. He said agricultural exports this year will top $16 billion, exceeding weapons exports.
The Russian economy contracted 3.7 percent in 2015 and the recession has continued this year under the combined blow of low oil prices and Western sanctions.
Putin said the government should encourage growth by offering support to farmers and create incentives for small businesses.
He noted that inflation, which stood at nearly 13 percent last year, is expected to slow down to 6 percent this year.
Putin hopes for better Russia-US ties, anti-terror action
Putin hopes for better Russia-US ties, anti-terror action
WHO chief says reasons US gave for withdrawing ‘untrue’
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a joint statement Thursday that Washington had formally withdrawn from the WHO
- And in a post on X, Tedros added: “Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue”
GENEVA: The head of the UN’s health agency on Saturday pushed back against Washington’s stated reasons for withdrawing from the World Health Organization, dismissing US criticism of the WHO as “untrue.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that US announcement this week that it had formally withdrawn from the WHO “makes both the US and the world less safe.”
And in a post on X, he added: “Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue.”
He insisted: “WHO has always engaged with the US, and all Member States, with full respect for their sovereignty.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a joint statement Thursday that Washington had formally withdrawn from the WHO.
They accused the agency, of numerous “failures during the Covid-19 pandemic” and of acting “repeatedly against the interests of the United States.”
The WHO has not yet confirmed that the US withdrawal has taken effect.
- ‘Trashed and tarnished’ -
The two US officials said the WHO had “trashed and tarnished” the United States, and had compromised its independence.
“The reverse is true,” the WHO said in a statement.
“As we do with every Member State, WHO has always sought to engage with the United States in good faith.”
The agency strenuously rejected the accusation from Rubio and Kennedy that its Covid response had “obstructed the timely and accurate sharing of critical information that could have saved American lives and then concealed those failures.”
Kennedy also suggested in a video posted to X Friday that the WHO was responsible for “the Americans who died alone in nursing homes (and) the small businesses that were destroyed by reckless mandates” to wear masks and get vaccinated.
The US withdrawal, he insisted, was about “protecting American sovereignty, and putting US public health back in the hands of the American people.”
Tedros warned on X that the statement “contains inaccurate information.”
“Throughout the pandemic, WHO acted quickly, shared all information it had rapidly and transparently with the world, and advised Member States on the basis of the best available evidence,” the agency said.
“WHO recommended the use of masks, vaccines and physical distancing, but at no stage recommended mask mandates, vaccine mandates or lockdowns,” it added.
“We supported sovereign governments to make decisions they believed were in the best interests of their people, but the decisions were theirs.”
- Withdrawal ‘raises issues’ -
The row came as Washington struggled to dislodge itself from the WHO, a year after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to that effect.
The one-year withdrawal process reached completion on Thursday, but Kennedy and Rubio regretted in their statement that the UN health agency had “not approved our withdrawal and, in fact, claims that we owe it compensation.”
WHO has highlighted that when Washington joined the organization in 1948, it reserved the right to withdraw, as long as it gave one year’s notice and had met “its financial obligations to the organization in full for the current fiscal year.”
But Washington has not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, and is behind around $260 million.
“The notification of withdrawal raises issues,” WHO said Saturday, adding that the topic would be examined during WHO’s Executive Board meeting next month and by the annual World Health Assembly meeting in May.
“We hope the US will return to active participation in WHO in the future,” Tedros said Saturday.
“Meanwhile, WHO remains steadfastly committed to working with all countries in pursuit of its core mission and constitutional mandate: the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right for all people.”
