During an end of year press conference in 2017, Mr Putin made a damning assessment of the US’ role in faltering talks with North Korea. President Trump has lead the effort to try and convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons, but with the deadline for a resolution set at the end of 2019, it seems Washington has failed. President Putin blamed the US for rising tensions.
He said in December 2017: “I have already said this, and I would like to tell you once again that in 2005 the concerned parties came to an agreement with North Korea that it would terminate its nuclear weapons programme.
“North Korea assumed certain obligations. Everyone agreed and signed these agreements.
“Only several months later, the United States decided that these agreements were not enough.
“The US side promptly froze the accounts of North Korean banks and said that North Korea had to do something else outside the framework of these agreements.
“But North Korea decided not to bother and withdrew from all those agreements, and started developing its nuclear programme once again.”
Mr Putin also accused both the US and North Korea of rising tensions, and warned that conflict would be “disastrous” should it emerge from the boiling tensions
Mr Putin added: “We believe that both sides need to stop ramping up tensions. At one point, we heard from our American partners that they would stop military exercises.
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The Russian leader also took aim at US politicians in a bizarre rant that appeared to suggest figures in Washington look more intelligent than they really are.
He continued: “You [the US] are such interesting people. Have you noticed that members of the US Congress and Senate are so nice-looking and beautifully dressed in fancy suits and shirts?
“They seem to be intelligent people. What is the matter with you? You must agree that this sounds strange, and that it somehow goes beyond common sense.
“However, unlike some countries, our policy mostly lacks political time-serving considerations.”