Putin: Russia, US have narrowed their differences on Syria

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday went further than ever before in discussing Russia’s role in Ukraine’s separatist insurgency, with a comment on the deployment of operatives that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation said was an acknowledgment of the Kremlin’s military involvement in the conflict.

And he may very well be right.

Putin said his country will try to maintain friendly relations with the Turkish people, but dealing with the country’s leadership has been “practically impossible”.

“He says that he wants a different level of relations, tighter and deeper relations with Russia”, Putin said.

“He’s a very lively man, talented without doubt”, said Putin, according to the Interfax news service.

He said it seemed that the Turks “decided to lick the Americans in a certain place”.

Putin said the Russian military operation in Syria will continue until a political process starts, but it is up to the Syrians to decide when to stop fighting and sit down for talks.

“We think that Syrian people alone should determine who they want to rule them, under which standards and which rules”.

Putin said that Russia was particularly annoyed because instead of apologizing over what he called Turkey’s “hostile” action that killed one of the plane’s two pilots and a Russian marine, the country turned to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation for help.

“Couldn’t they just make a call or warn the military via the communications channels that existed and say: “Look… there are our interests here, so please don’t hit it”?”

Trump has repeatedly promised he would improve relations with Putin should he become the president next year.

“The long-distance admiration between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump is not completely surprising, as Mr. Trump has sought to project toughness throughout his campaign”.

Trump has also given something of a backhanded compliment to Putin’s Syria policy, claiming he would like to “sit back” and watch Russian Federation fall into a self-inflicted “trap” by continuing its air strikes in Syria in support of Assad.

“Intra-political things – his turn of phrase to prop up his popularity -” are not a matter of concern for Russia, Putin said. Putin said. “That is none of our business to evaluate his accomplishments but he remains the absolute front-runner in the presidential race”. “It’s not our business to assess his work in this respect”, Putin said.