Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that relations with the United States of America (USA) have reached their lowest point in recent years.
"We have bilateral relations that have deteriorated and reached their lowest point in recent years," Putin said in an interview with NBC, an excerpt of which was published on June 11.
The interview took place just a few days before the Russian leader is scheduled to meet with US President Joseph Biden in Geneva on June 16.
Putin compared former US President Donald Trump to the current president, saying he hopes to work with Biden
"I believe that the former president of the USA, Mr. Trump, is an extraordinary individual, a talented person, otherwise he would not have become the president of the USA," Putin said in the interview, which will be broadcast in its entirety on June 14.
The Russian president described Trump as a "colorful personality" who did not come from the political establishment.
By contrast, Biden is "radically different" from Trump because he is a "career man" who has spent his life in politics as a senator and vice president, Putin said.
"He is a different kind of person and I have great hope that although there are some advantages and some disadvantages, there will be no impulsive moves on behalf of the current US president," he said.
Biden said the US wants a "stable, predictable" relationship with Russia that allows the two countries to work together on common issues such as strategic stability, arms control and climate change.
But the US president has repeatedly stressed that the US will respond to Russian cyberattacks, election meddling and other malicious actions.
The White House said Biden would raise attacks originating in Russia, Moscow's aggression against Ukraine, the jailing of dissidents and other issues affecting the relationship when he meets with Putin next Sunday.
In the interview, Putin was asked about several of his opponents who have been killed in recent years and whose deaths have been blamed on Moscow.
They include former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned, and opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was killed near the Kremlin.
He was also asked about Biden's comments in an interview in March in which he agreed that Putin was a "murderer."
At one point, a reporter asked Putin directly: "Mr. President, are you a murderer?"
"During my tenure, I got used to attacks from all angles and from all kinds of areas under all kinds of pretexts and reasons and of different caliber and ferocity, and nothing surprises me," Putin said, adding that the term "killer" was part of "macho behavior" common in Hollywood.
Such discourse "is part of American political culture, where it is considered normal. Otherwise, not here; it is not considered normal here," he said.
Continuing the topic of the death of an opponent of the Kremlin, the journalist asked if these were "all coincidences".
"Look, you know, I don't mean to sound rude, but this looks like some kind of indigestion, except it's verbal indigestion. You've mentioned many individuals who have really suffered and died at different times for different reasons, at the hands of different individuals." , Putin said and added that in some cases the alleged perpetrators were punished.
Putin also dismissed a report published by the Washington Post this week that Russia was preparing to supply Iran with an advanced satellite that would allow it to track potential military targets across the Middle East, including US forces.
"It's just fake news. At the very least, I don't know anything about such things," Putin said. "It's just nonsense, rubbish."
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