After two days of meetings with top European officials and international executives, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday sounded reconciliatory in a roundtable with international media, saying Russia is ready to work with whoever is elected president of the US in November.
Putin spent Thursday and Friday in Saint Petersburg, his hometown, hosting European Commission President Jean-Claude Junckner, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and the chief executives of the world’s biggest companies.
The weekend was set to underline the futility of European and US sanctions, which were imposed on Russia over the 2014 annexation of Crimea and its interference in eastern Ukraine.
Speaking at the late-evening meeting with the leaders of major news agencies, Putin on Friday said Russia would work with whoever is elected the new US president.
“We will judge by the deeds, not words, of the new United States president and will seek ways to normalize ties and advance our cooperation in economy and international security,” Putin said.
Despite sounding reconciliatory on many subjects and refusing to pronounce judgement on divisive issues, such as Britain’s upcoming referendum to exit the EU, Putin expressed concern about US-led NATO missile defense plans.
“The strategic balance used to guarantee peace in the world, it saved us from major armed conflicts in the past 70 years,” Putin said. “It was a good thing. It was based on a mutual threat, but this mutual threat has given us global peace for decades.”
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Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
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