No 'serious' shift in US policy on Russia if Trump reelected: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he did not expect any major changes in US policy towards Russia if Donald Trump wins the presidency in November, but did not rule out a shift in thinking.

Speaking to media editors at an economic forum in St Petersburg on Wednesday, Putin said Moscow didn't care who won while accusing the Biden administration of making mistake after mistake and of "burning down" the US political system and global leadership.

"Basically, we don't care (who wins)", he said when asked by the Reuters news agency whether he believed the outcome of the US election would make a difference for Moscow.

Calling incumbent Joe Biden a predictable old-school politician, he said Moscow would work with whoever wins and not meddle in domestic US politics.

"We have never had any special ties with Mr Trump, but the fact remains that as president he started imposing massive sanctions on Russia, he withdrew from the treaty on intermediate and shorter-range missiles," said Putin.

"To say — I am speaking quite sincerely — that we believe that after the elections something will change towards Russia in American policy, I would not say so. We don't think so. We think that nothing really serious will happen."

Ukraine war

Talking about Ukraine war, Putin warned that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine were "a very dangerous step", especially if donors are "controlling" use of the weapons.

"Delivering arms to a warzone is always bad. Even more so if those who are delivering are not just delivering weapons but also controlling them. This is a very serious and very dangerous step," he added.

Several countries, including Germany and the United States, have in recent weeks given the green light for Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia in response to a new offensive launched by Moscow in northeast Ukraine last month.

Putin singled out Germany, saying that when the first German-supplied tanks "appeared on Ukrainian soil, it provoked a moral and ethical shock in Russia" because of the legacy of World War II.

Referring to German authorities, he said: "When they say that there will be more missiles which will hit targets on Russian territory, this definitively destroys Russian-German relations."