Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has called on the United States to refrain from provoking Moscow to take active measures to protect its national interests and said he hoped that constructive relations would be established with the new U.S. administration.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the United States to refrain from provoking Moscow to take active measures to protect its national interests and said he hoped constructive relations would be established with the new administration in Washington. At an October 27, 2016 meeting of the Valdai international discussion club, President Putin said he shared the opinion of one of the forum’s participants that Russia and the United States should proceed to a new level of relations. “I agree that we must at least try to break out of this vicious circle. But Russia did not begin drawing this circle. On the contrary, we opened ourselves completely in the mid-1990s and we expected that it would be an equal dialogue, that our interests would be reckoned with, that we would be able to talk to each other and meet each other halfway,” the Russian leader said. “It is impossible to pursue one’s goals unilaterally and at any cost.”

As an example, he cited the former Yugoslavia and Crimea. “The bombing of Belgrade was an intervention bypassing the norms and rules of international law,” he said, adding that the United Nations Security Council did not sanction such action, but the United States still undertook that military operation of its own accord.

According to the Russian leader, Kosovo’s secession was done in a manner similar to Crimea’s reunification with Russia. “Kosovo’s parliament voted [to secede from Yugoslavia] following combat operations and the intervention, after numerous casualties. The decision was taken and all agreed to that. In Crimea, there was no war, no bombings, no combat operation, no casualties. No one was killed. The only thing we did is we ensured the people’s right to express their will in full compliance with the United Nations Charter. In Kosovo, the secession decision was taken by the parliament; [in Crimea], the people came to a referendum and expressed their will and later the parliament ratified this decision. [Then,] Crimea, as a sovereign state, turned to Russia for reunification,” President Putin said.

“We can go arguing over and over again, but this vicious circle needs to be broken,” President Putin stressed. “Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, NATO’s expansion – as time goes by something may be forgotten or omitted. And when we are provoked to take certain steps to protect our interests, they say, ‘Look, the aggressive Russia is taking some steps.’”

“Please don’t provoke us to actively defend our interests. Let us try to reach agreement on various matters,” President Putin addressed his call to the U.S. authorities. “I would like to hope that we will have other relations with the new administration, the relations of partnership and of taking account of each other’s interests.”