Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the G7 and NATO summits in an interview with US broadcaster NBC, the Kremlin press service said
The Russian leader noted that within the G7, there are issues that require constant attention, consideration because of the existing contradictions. Putin stressed that in the G7 there are different assessments of certain events in the international arena.
“As for NATO, I have said many times: it is a vestige of the Cold War. NATO was born during the Cold War, but why it exists today is not very clear. There was a time when there was talk about its transformation, but now it has been forgotten”, – Putin said.
The President explained that Moscow proceeded from the fact that the North Atlantic Alliance is a military organization which is at the same time an ally of the United States. Putin said that “from time to time, one should meet with allies.” Therefore, he did not see anything unusual for White House President Joe Biden to meet with G7 leaders and NATO partners before the Russia-US summit.
“All the more so, it’s a tribute to their allies before the US and Russian presidents meet. It is probably presented as a desire to learn their views on key issues on the modern agenda, including those that we will be discussing with President Biden”, – Vladimir Puti concluded