Vladimir Putin warned “western elites” against trying to damage the new bond between the US and Russia on Thursday.
Speaking to his Federal Security Service (FSB) chiefs on Thursday – the day of Keir Starmer’s press conference with Donald Trump – the Russian president called for his agents to “disrupt” any attempts to break up the rapprochement.
He said: “We understand that not everyone is happy with the resumption of Russian-American contacts.
“Some western elites are still determined to maintain instability in the world, and these forces will try to disrupt or compromise the dialogue that has begun.”
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He added: “We need to be aware of this and use all possibilities when it comes to diplomacy and our intelligence services to disrupt such attempts.”
Putin did not say who he was alluding to in this conversation, but his remarks came in between French president Emmanuel Macron’s Monday trip to the White House and Starmer’s on Thursday.
Both European leaders arranged their visits to see the US president after Trump made it clear he wanted to secure a peace deal to end the Ukraine war sooner rather than later.
The US president even chose to prioritise Russia over Ukraine in the early negotiations, which Kyiv was excluded from.
Trump, who is more sympathetic to Putin than any other major western leader has been since Russia’s invasion, has hinted Ukraine may have to cede occupied territory and renounce any Nato ambitions in the name of peace.
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The US president has also spoken highly of Putin, offering him a route back onto the world stage after years of being out in the cold for his land grab in Ukraine.
Trump has falsely blamed Ukraine for the war too, even though Europe maintains that Putin was always the aggressor.
So Macron and Starmer visited the White House to address their worries about Ukraine’s safety and sovereignty.
They were hoping to get American security guarantees from Trump in the event that Putin pushes further into Europe – although neither leader received any solid promises.
Even so, the meetings evidently rattled the Russian president, who seems determined to hold onto this new relationship with the US.
According to Reuters news agency, he told the FSB: “I note that the first contacts with the new American administration inspire certain hopes.
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“There is a reciprocal mood to work to restore intergovernmental ties and to gradually resolve the huge number of systemic and strategic problems that have built up in the world’s security architecture.”
Putin also criticised the “ideological cliches” of the past and welcomed Russia’s current “partners” who showed pragmatism – but did not actually say if he was referring to Joe Biden and his successor Trump.
Putin also called for the service to continue working against “international terrorism” – and then repeated his past claims the West is in the middle of a crisis.
“You and I can see it,” he said. “They have begun to destroy Western society itself from within. This is evidenced by the problems in the economies of many Western countries and in their domestic politics.”
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