MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia is ready to work with all Western partners on the issues of joint interests providing the feeling is mutual, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on Tuesday.
"It was not Russia that cut off cooperation through the G8 or the Russia-NATO Council. We are willing to interact with everyone, once there is a matter for common discussion. We think that there is one, but a relationship can be happy only when the feeling is mutual," Putin told Germany's Bild newspaper.
Russia’s relations with the West have been strained since the start of fighting in eastern Ukraine in early 2014.
The West has accused Moscow of interference in Ukraine's internal affairs and imposed targeted sanctions on key sectors of Russian economy – energy, defense and banking. EU sanctions were prolonged for another six months at a meeting of the EU Council in late December.
"We planned to host the G8 summit in 2014. I would not say that this mechanism is useless. Meetings, discussions, seeking solutions together are always beneficial," the newspaper.
The Russian leader added that Russia’s presence in the group was useful, since it provided an alternative view on some issues under discussion, which are also reviewed within the G20, APEC and BRICS organizations.
Russia formally joined the G8 group of the world’s largest economies in 1998. In 2014, the seven industrial nations bowed out of the G8 summit in Russia’s resort city of Sochi at the height of the Ukrainian crisis and met in Brussels without Putin.
Russian President added that US President Barack Obama calling Russia a regional power and attempts to disrespect other states is a wrongful stance.
"I think that speculations about other countries, an attempt to speak disrespectfully about other countries is an attempt to prove one’s exceptionalism by contrast. In my view, that is a misguided position," said, answering a question on Obama's remarks.
The Russian leader added that he could not agree with Obama’s words, but said that the US president was entitled to his own opinion.
Russia occupies the sixth place in the world in terms of purchasing power parity, according to the International Monetary Fund estimates.
