Putin declares readiness to talk, meet with Trump

ISTANBUL

Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced his readiness Thursday to talk or meet with US President-elect Donald Trump.

“I am ready for this, of course, at any time. And I will be ready for a meeting if he wants it,” Putin said at his annual year-end news conference and call-in show in Moscow.

He said he does not know when he would meet Trump because he “does not say anything about it,” but indicated that he has not contacted him for more than four years.

Putin further said he is confident that he and Trump would have something to discuss should they meet.

Commenting on a question about what he can offer Trump concerning the Ukraine war while allegedly being in a “weakened position,” Putin said that he has a different point of view on the matter, arguing that Russia has become much stronger in the past two or three years.

“Why? Because we are becoming a truly sovereign country, we are no longer dependent on anyone. We are able to confidently stand on our feet in terms of the economy,” he said.

He said Russia is strengthening its defensive capabilities and combat readiness while increasing production in its defense industry.

“I believe that Russia is today largely in the state that we were aiming for. It has grown stronger, it has become a truly sovereign country, and we will make decisions without any regard for other people's opinions, we will be guided only by our national interests,” he added.

Putin responded to a question on US President Joe Biden pardoning his son on tax evasion and gun-related offenses earlier this month, saying he does not blame him for his decision.

“He is a politician. And it always matters what is more in you: a politician or a person. It turned out that Biden is more of a person. I would not blame him for this,” he said.

Putin compared Biden's decision to pardon his son with the case of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who refused to exchange his son Yakov Dzhugashvili, who was captured by Nazi Germany during World War II.

“It is not a legend when Stalin refused the offer to exchange his son Yakov, who was in captivity … He said: ‘I don't trade a soldier for a field marshal.’ It's a human decision,” he added.