Bashir Assad Quotes

Prospects of normalizing our relations with Russia look good.

The greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship that's 30 miles offshore right out of the water. Everyone in this country will say, oh, that's so great. That's not great. That's not great. I would love to be able to get along with Russia.

I would love to have a stable, productive relationship with Russia.

If America can have a great relationship with Russia and with China and with all countries, I'm all for that. That would be a tremendous asset.

We have vastly different hopes and expectations, as far as the U.S.-Russia relationship is concerned, in Moscow and Washington. What we need, however, is to manage this troubled relationship - we don't want this relationship to go out of control.

This fact lays on us - so long as the maintenance of good relations with Russia seems to us worth an effort - the duty of satisfying Russia that she has no need to fear any invasion of her sphere of interests on Germany's part.

Of course the United States and Russia have different interests. Nevertheless, both are strategic partners.

Nothing guides Russian policy so much as a desire for friendship with the United States.

Anybody who says it is in America's interest to not have better relations with Russia doesn't know what they're talking about when it comes to geopolitics.

What Donald Trump is determined to do, as someone who has spent a lifetime looking for deals, is to see if we can have a new relationship with Russia and other countries that advances the interests of America first and the peace and security of the world.

With respect to Russia, my principal approach to Russia has been constant since I first came into office. Russia is an important country. It is a military superpower. It has influence in the region and it has influence around the world.

If America could get along with Russia, that's a positive thing.

I think it is a very natural tendency for the nations to increase their influence in the international space, as they pursue their international relations with different countries.

Donald Trump is an American presidential nominee who was describing Russia in terms that they haven't heard almost ever. And so there is a belief that Donald Trump would be a collaborative, willing and I think perhaps quite able partner.

We want to work with the Russians. But we also have every right to expect the Russians to behave in a fashion and keeping with a - with a - with a country who respects international boundaries and the norms of international behavior.

If Britain pursues a more independent foreign policy, it might be possible then. And if it is guided by commitments to its allies and considers this to be of a bigger national interest than its cooperation with Russia, so be it.

I believe that we do not share as many values with Russia yet as we do with the United States. On the other hand, we have a strong interest in Russia developing in a reasonable direction.

I never met Putin. This is not my best friend. But if the United States got along with Russia, wouldn't be so bad.

We don't discuss this issue [conversations with Russia] as a government, but we discuss the repercussions, which is more important because sometimes repercussions could be more destroying than the strike itself.

I talk with countries, whether it's the Arab states or in the Middle East, and they talk about how they're glad to see us fighting against Iran. I talk with different countries in reference to Syria, and we talk about how we can get the Iranian influence out. We're talking about North Korea and what we need to do and the pressure we need to put on China. They're happy that we're finally beating up on Russia for what they've done in the Ukraine.

As far as my relationship with President Putin is concerned, it's fine.

With respect to Euro-Atlantic integration, we have to realize that we need to normalize the relationships with our neighbors, and especially with Russia.

Russia and the U.S. must jointly manage expectations to ensure that attempts to 'reset' our relationship succeed.

Our relations with the other powers of Europe have experienced no essential change since the last session.

I explained that we would like to adjust our position on the Syrian question to theirs, as, in our view, they are the decisive factor in our relations with our neighbors, and Syria is unimportant.