MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow will rely on honest and decent Americans in relations with Washington.
Speaking about Russian-US relations at a meeting with representatives of the public of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on Thursday, the Russian head of state drew attention to the difference in the views of the American people and the political establishment.
According to Putin, there are "quite a few honest, decent and warm-hearted people" in the United States who want to live in peace and friendship with Russia. "We are aware of that, and we value that, and we will rely on them in the future," the Russian leader assured.
"As for the US [political] establishment, the ruling class, its consciousness was shaped in a well-known and rather difficult environment," Putin said.
"After all, the exploration of the American continent by Europeans was associated with the extermination of the local population, with genocide, as they say today, the genocide against Indian tribes. Then, a very tough, long and difficult period of slavery followed, a very cruel one," he noted.
