By Keir Simmons, Corky Siemaszko and Yuliya Talmazan - NBC News
Russian President Vladimir Putin denied ordering the end of the life of his political opponent Alexei Navalny in an exclusive interview with NBC News, in which he also denied that his country is behind the cyberattacks suffered by the United States.
This is the first interview granted by the Russian president in three years to an American media, and it occurs a few days in addition to his meeting with the president, Joe Biden, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Putin assured that he cannot guarantee, however, that Navalny will come out of pressure alive, where he is serving a sentence after having survived a poisoning with a nerve agent in August last year.
"Look, those decisions in this country are not made by the president," he replied.
"He will not be treated worse than any other," Putin stressed when reminded that the Russian opponent is not just any prisoner.
The Russian president spoke to NBC News for nearly an hour and a half, while Biden held the G-7 summit with the leaders of the world's richest countries.
Russia was expelled from the group in 2014 after invading Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
Relations between the United States and Russia are at their worst in decades, a view shared by Biden and Putin.
This has been contributed by a series of cyberattacks whose responsibility has been linked to Moscow, as well as a long list of old complaints, among which the interference of Russia in the US elections of 2016 and 2020 stands out.
Putin claimed that Washington's accusations that Russian hackers or the Russian government itself are behind the cyberattacks suffered by the United States are "a sham."
In this sense, he challenged NBC News, and therefore the US Government, to present evidence to prove it.
[Joe Biden travels to Europe to regain the trust of his allies and meet with Putin]
"We have been accused of all kinds of things," Putin stressed.
"Interference in elections, cyberattacks and a long etcetera. And not once, not once, have they bothered to present any kind of proof or evidence. Only baseless accusations," he added.
Biden blacklisted six Russian tech companies that support Putin's intelligence-led cyber program, along with dozens of other Russian entities and individuals, in April for "perpetrating attempts led by the Russian government to influence the 2020 presidential elections in the United States, and other acts of misinformation and interference. "
Putin reiterated his call for the United States and Russia to join forces in the fight against cybercrime: "We have great hope that we can establish this process with our American partners."
The Russian president proposed to Washington a "cyber restart" when Donald Trump was still in the White House, but some voices in the United States considered his offer insincere.
Throughout the interview, Putin resorted to the Kremlin's strategy of deflecting criticism by emphasizing America's failures and suggesting that the West's criticism is hypocritical because all countries, including Russia and the United States, act on their own. interest.
Asked about Biden's criticism that Russia has contributed to global instability, Putin accused the United States of doing the same in Libya, Afghanistan and Syria.
In addition, he pointed out that his country is not repressing internal dissent any more than the United States does with its laws against foreign agents.
He even referred to the arrests of hundreds of people suspected of participating in the January riots on the Capitol and in the death of a protester as proof that the United States also persecutes its citizens for their political opinions, just as it is accused of. Russia to repress dissent.
However, it did not mention that these individuals were not detained for their opinions, but accused of violence and destruction for the assault on the headquarters of Congress.
"We have a saying: 'Don't be mad at the mirror if you're ugly," he said, "it has nothing to do with you on a personal level. But if someone blames us for something, what I say is: why don't they look at each other? You will see yourself reflected in the mirror, not us. "
Putin was somewhat defiant when asked if it is a "coincidence" that various political rivals have been assassinated in recent years.
"We don't have this kind of habit of murdering anyone," he replied when asked specifically if he ordered Navalny to be killed.
Kremlin observers, however, claim that the Russian security services have acted with impunity both inside and outside the country.
From the G-7 to a meeting with the Queen: this was Biden's first international summit
June 14, 202102: 25
Biden, who has made it clear that he sees his first overseas tour as an opportunity to rally allies to the cause of liberal democracy against the authoritarian threat from Russia and China, has called the Kremlin the greatest danger to security and alliances. from the United States.
Biden has recounted on more than one occasion how he told Putin to the face that he "has no soul" during a visit to the Kremlin in 2011 when he was vice president of the United States.
"I do not remember this specific part of our conversation," Putin said when questioned about this detail.
On Biden, Putin highlighted his professionalism and suggested that he could work with him.
"He has spent practically his entire adult life in politics," he said.
Putin had words of affection for Trump, who was accused of getting close to the Russian president during his tenure.
Following their July 2018 summit in Helsinki, Trump sparked a political earthquake when he refused to back US intelligence agencies, which pointed to Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
"Mr. Trump is an extraordinary individual, a talented individual, otherwise he would not have become president of the United States," Putin said.
"He is a colorful individual."
