Putin: We're not going to interfere with U.S. affairs, but it should be ready to meet challenges it prompts
MOSCOW. Jan 11 (Interfax) - Russia is not going to interfere with affairs of the United States, but Washington should be ready to meet the challenges provoked by the U.S. itself, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"If they stick their nose into everything, they should be ready, they should be capable of meeting certain challenges, which they, as a matter of fact, encourage themselves," Putin said, speaking about the U.S. at a meeting with chief editors of Russian media and information agencies.
"Please do not interpret it as that we're interfering with something. We're not going to interfere [with anything]," the president said.
No one likes any interference with one's domestic political affairs, he said. "Our friends in the U.S. particularly dislike that," Putin said.
"What is happening to our media, which have already been declared foreign agents and subjected to restrictions on their work, particularly in a quite aggressive and vicious manner, shows its [the U.S.'s] attitude to anyone's influence on the internal political situation in any way, especially prior to elections. The thing that they constantly do themselves and consider it normal, what is, in my opinion, absolutely improper," Putin said.