Russian president Vladimir Putin says that the US continuously interferes in Asian affairs and is dragging its European partners towards a conflict with China like “little dogs on a leash”

Putin was speaking at a meeting of BRICS media chiefs on Friday, when he claimed that Russia’s unique relations with China and growing cooperation between Moscow and Beijing on the international arena have become one of the “key factors of strategic stability in the world.”

RT reports: He said Russia-China relations are built on an “equal basis” while “taking into account each other’s interests” and always listening to each other.

Washington, on the other hand, has been pursuing counterproductive policies in Asia and persuading its European partners to do the same, Putin claimed.

“Nobody even wants to ask the Europeans their opinion. Do they want to spoil their relations with China and get involved – through NATO structures – in Asia and create a situation there that will cause concern among the countries of the region, including China?” 

“I assure you, they do not [want this],” Putin insisted, noting that “nevertheless, they are being dragged there by a lasso, like a big uncle dragging little dogs along with him.”

There are objective processes of economic development, they are connected with a million factors,” the Russian leader explained, adding that US sanctions on China have backfired because attempts to “restrain China’s development have a negative impact on the economy of the US itself.”

Speaking at a plenary session of the BRICS Business Forum in Moscow on Friday, Putin stated that the group’s nations have become the main drivers of international economic growth and that their potential will continue to increase.