As tensions seemingly mount between the U.S. and Russia, an inconvenient fact for a media complex obsessed with progressing a narrative that the Executive Branch of the U.S. government is now controlled by the Kremlin, Putin offered up a rather unique way of responding to a reporter's question over whether he was "disappointed" in President Trump. Speaking at a media conference on the last of the BRICS summit in China, Putin told a reporter that his question regarding his personal feelings toward the U.S. President were "very naive....he is not my bride."
"Regarding frustration and non-frustration your question sounds very naive. He is not my bride and I'm not his groom."
"We are doing state activity and each country has its own interests. Trump follows his country's national interests in his activity and I follow mine. I'm really counting on that..."
Of course, these questions come just after the US State Department announced last week that is had ordered the Russian government to close its San Francisco consulate, a chancery annex in Washington and a consular annex in New York City. The move came exactly one month after Vladimir Putin ordered the expulsion of 755 US diplomats from Russia, as well as the seizure of two diplomatic compounds used by the US in Russia on July 31.
Here was the full statement issued by the U.S. State Department:
Achieving Parity in Diplomatic Missions
The United States has fully implemented the decision by the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia. We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries.
In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian Government to close its Consul. General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City. These closures will need to be accomplished by September 2.
With this action both countries will remain with three consulates each. While there will continue to be a disparity in the number of diplomatic and consular annexes, we have chosen to allow the Russian Government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship.
The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federation's desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both of our presidents: improved relations between our two countries and increased cooperation on areas of mutual concern. The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted.
All that said, we're sure it's just a matter of time until CNN tells us that this is all just a clever ruse to distract from Trump's collusion with Russia to steal the 2016 election.