Russian communist chief loves Obama, dislikes Romney. Case closed

Updated September 6, 2012, 2:59 p.m. ET
By JAMES MARSON and LUKAS I. ALPERT

(Wall Street Journal) - MOSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin said the re-election of President Barack Obama could improve relations with the U.S., but that he was also prepared to work with Mitt Romney, calling the Republican candidate's tough stance on Russia "pre-election rhetoric."

In contrast to what had been viewed as a chilly attitude toward Mr. Obama, Mr. Putin called his U.S. counterpart "a genuine person" who "really wants to change much for the better." Speaking to Russia's state-run RT television channel, he said a second Obama term could help solve disputes over missile defense.

The comments will likely be seized on by the Romney campaign, which in recent months has sharply criticized Mr. Obama's so-called reset of relations with the Kremlin and pushed a harder line.

Relations with Russia first heated up the campaign in March, when Mr. Obama was inadvertently caught on an open microphone telling Mr. Putin's predecessor, Dmitry Medvedev, that he would have "more flexibility" after the election to address Russia's concerns over the proposed U.S. antimissile shield in Europe.

The U.S. says the defense system is designed to protect against a possible missile attack from Iran, but Moscow says the interceptors could neuter Russia's nuclear arsenal.

Republicans denounced Mr. Obama's comments as a sign of weakness; Mr. Romney said Russia was America's "No. 1 geopolitical foe." Mr. Putin said such talk was "mistaken" electioneering, adding he was prepared to work with whomever Americans elect. He warned, however, that a Romney victory could complicate attempts to resolve Russia's opposition to the shield.

"Our American partners tell us, 'It's not [aimed] against you.' But what if the president of the United States will be Mr. Romney, who considers us enemy No. 1?" he told RT in the interview, recorded Monday and broadcast Thursday.

In his broadest public comments since returning to office in May, Mr. Putin also stuck firmly to his position against outside intervention to end violence in Syria and brushed off Western criticism that he is cracking down on the nascent antigovernment protest movement in Russia. He said Russia, which has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at pressuring the Syrian authorities to end violence, wouldn't shift its stance.

"Why should only Russia re-evaluate its position?" he said. "Maybe our partners in the negotiation process should re-evaluate their position."

He suggested that efforts to aid militants in bringing down the regime of President Bashar al-Assad would backfire and create a situation like that seen in Afghanistan after the defeat of the Soviet Union by mujahedeen fighters.

He said that would undermine efforts to tackle global terrorism and that the U.S. may as well "open the gates to Guantanamo and let all the Guantanamo inmates into Syria, let them fight. It's the same thing."

Mr. Putin did, however, change tack on the Arab Spring protests, which he had earlier described as a Western attempt to advance its interests in the region. In the interview, he said the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East happened as leaders hadn't responded quickly enough to people's demands for change.

Turning to his response to protests in Russia that swelled at the end of last year, Mr. Putin rejected claims he is clamping down on dissent.

"What is 'tightening the screws'?" he said. "If this is a requirement that everyone, including representatives of the opposition, obey the law, then yes, this requirement will be consistently implemented."

Asked about the trial of all-female punk group Pussy Riot, three of whom were jailed earlier this month for two years on hooliganism charges for performing an anti-Putin song in Moscow's main cathedral, the president asked the interviewer to translate the band's name into Russian and then made a ribald remark about one of their performances involving group sex.

"The state is obliged to protect the feelings of believers," Mr. Putin said, denying claims by lawyers for the group that he had influenced the trial. He noted that they can appeal.

Hat tip: MichaelSavage.com