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It’s no secret that Russian president Vladimir Putin has ambitions for power beyond his borders.
But during his end-of-year press conference, the president - who is widely suspected to be behind cyber attacks on the US and interference in the 2016 US election - might just have revealed the extent of his plans.
After spending more than three hours fielding questions, Putin received a particularly direct question from an American journalist.
Ann Maria Simmons of The Wall Street Journal, said:
They even think that you as president of Russia seek to rule the world.
Putin immediately interrupted her and responded:
Well, of course.
Concluding, Simmons asked:
Do you really want that, and can you tell me what the real goal of your foreign policy is?
Putin said that the US was purposefully making Moscow out to be an enemy and had outspent Russia considerably on its military.
As for trying to rule the world, we know very well where the headquarters are of who are trying to do just that, and they are not in Moscow. Why is that?
This is due to the leading role of the USA in the world economy. Due to their expenditure on defense. More than $700 billion is spent by the U.S. compared to our $46 billion.
NATO countries have 600 million people, and Russia only has 140 million. Do you really think it is our goal to rule the world? No, this is just a mentality imposed by some to achieve some internal goals.
The true goal of our foreign policy is to secure a beneficial environment for the development of Russia.
During the press conference, a female journalist from Yekaterinburg about Putin's physical condition and health. Appearing to flirt, he responded:
We'll discuss it together later.
So if he’s as bad at world domination as he is flirting, we’re probably safe for now.
H/T: Newsweek
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