Russia’s ruble tanks on first day of trading after holiday

“It’s a complicated process, of course”, Putin said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild.

“It was surely more hard to grant Mr Snowden asylum in Russian Federation than it would be in the case of Assad”, Putin told Germany’s most popular tabloid, Bild, referring to former USA intelligence worker turned whistleblower, Edward Snowden, who was given asylum in Russian Federation in 2013.

“Invisible walls simply moved to the East. This created the foundation for mutual reproaches, misunderstandings and crises in the future”, Putin said.

But the Russian president tried to find a positive side: “If you earn so many petrodollars, as we once did, that you can buy anything overseas, this slows down developments in your own country”, he said.

His claim that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation promised not to expand drew a quick response Monday from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation leaders, including Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow, who tweeted that it was “simply untrue”. I would not say that this mechanism is useless.

The idea that Assad would step down and be granted asylum in Russian Federation has been floated for years as one part of the solution to end the conflict.

“I think that speculation about other countries, an attempt to speak disrespectfully about other countries, is an attempt to prove one’s exceptionalism by contrast”. Days later, Putin approved a decree that would place wide-ranging sanctions on Turkish imports and services in Russian Federation.

Putin voiced his support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying he trusted her.

“Yes, I trust her, she is a very open person”, he said. “She is also subject to certain constraints and limitations”.

Putin called the European Union’s current negotiations over eastern Ukraine “theater of the absurd”, and blamed the Ukrainian government for not making what he said are constitutional changes required by the Minsk peace accords.

Western sanctions on Moscow are meant to exert long-term pressure on Russian Federation and not to push it “over the economic cliff”, a U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday.

Putin emphasized Russia’s presence is useful within the group of world leading industrialized nations as the country could provide an alternative view on various issues, citing the role it has played within such multilateral frameworks as the G20, APEC, and BRICS.

Putin’s dog Koni makes an unusual appearance during his meeting with Merkel at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on January 21, 2007.

Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a research note last month that the ruble would need to weaken to a staggering 94 rubles to the dollar if Russian Federation wants to keep its budget deficit below 3 percent.

Merkel was bit by a dog in 1995.

“As for whether this will lead to a major regional clash, I do not know”.