Putin: Relations With US ‘Getting Worse By The Hour’ Under Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that relations with the U.S. are rapidly “deteriorating” under the Trump administration because of sanctions against Russian companies and government officials.

In an interview with Mir Interstate Television, a Russian media company, Putin offered a positive assessment of Russian relations with countries like China, but added that the same could not be said about those with the U.S.

“Unfortunately, we cannot say anything of the kind about our relations with the US – they are in fact deteriorating, getting worse by the hour,” Putin said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the Kremlin.

“In recent years, the current US administration has already taken several dozen decisions on sanctions with regard to Russia, I think.”

The Trump administration has slapped Russian companies and government officials with sanctions over 2016 election meddling. President Trump has not enthusiastically supported the sanctions, but he has signed bills authorizing the economic penalties. The U.S. has also threatened sanctions against Russia over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a Russian defector who was poisoned at his home in the U.K. on March 4, 2018.

Putin, who has denied that Russia meddled in the U.S. election, went on to say that he does believe that relations with the U.S. will improve.

“[W]e strongly hope that common sense will triumph in the end. I hope that with all our partners, including our American partners, the United States, we will be able to work out some constructive solutions during the upcoming G20 meeting, creating the necessary stable conditions for economic cooperation,” he said.