Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke about his role in brokering agreements during the Syria crisis, in contrast to Western “incompetence”. Appearing on “World Order 2018”, he spoke about meeting with representatives from Iran and Turkey. In July 2018, the three countries met for two days of talks on issues related to the war in Syria.
They discussed matters including the formation of a Syrian constitutional committee, the de-escalation zones and humanitarian issues.
Host Vladimir Solovjev characterises the Sochi meeting as “the USA’s sworn enemy Iran”, and “Turkey, the USA’s NATO partner” coming face-to-face with Russia.
Noting that summits such as this might usually be held by the US at Camp David, Solovjev asks the Russian President what he saw at Sochi that the US government failed to see, and how he seized the initiative.
Putin replies: “The point is that we didn’t seize any opportunities.”
“We were pursuing our own cause [which has] brought positive results for all parties involved.”
Speaking of the US, he adds: “They had included everyone into some list of sanctions, labelling them as enemies.
“It’s a sign of weakness, not power.”
“They try to get all with one swatter”, he jokes, miming a fly-swatting action in the documentary, that was released in March 2018.
“It won’t do at all. It’s political incompetence.”
Putin also calls the Sochi meeting a “finalisation” of de-escalation plans in Syria.
He says that Russia’s previous declaration alongside President Trump on the de-escalation zone in South Syria “resonates” with the Sochi agreement.
Ever since the “illegal” annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has been crippled by sanctions imposed by both American and European powers.
In return, it has imposed sanctions on EU and US diplomats, including those from the UK after the Skripal poisoning.
It has also extended a ban on food imports from the EU and US until the end of 2019.