Putin says Trump was impeached for 'fabricated reasons,' calls new US sanctions 'unfriendly'

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Presidential impeachment: Clinton, Johnson, Nixon test U.S. democracy Presidents have been impeached, but none have been removed from office due to impeachment. Confusing? Here's how.

In a four-hour, televised year-end news conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Democrats used "fabricated reasons" to impeach President Donald Trump over Ukraine because their attempt to link him to Russian election meddling failed.

Putin also warned of a new arms race if Washington doesn't agree to extend the START nuclear arms agreement with Moscow; said the Kremlin would respond in kind to "unfriendly" new U.S.sanctions; and floated the prospects of amending the Russian constitution to allow him to run for another term,.

As for Trump's impeachment, the Russian leader called it "just the continuation of the domestic political strife," according to the state-owned TASS News agency.

"The party which lost the election, the Democratic Party, tried to achieve results through other means, accusing Trump of colluding with Russia," he said. "Later on, it turned out that there had been no collusion, so this cannot be the basis for impeachment."

Instead, he said they turned to accusations that Trump allegedly pressured Ukraine.

"I don’t know what it is all about," he said. "Your members of Congress should know better."

Referring to the Senate, which will take up the impeachment issue, Putin said he doubted the Republicans would remove Trump from office,

"It's unlikely they will want to remove from power a representative of their party based on what are, in my opinion, completely fabricated reasons," he said.

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Regarding the prospect of a new START treaty, limiting long-range nuclear weapons, he said Moscow was ready until the end of the year to extend the existing agreement, which expires at the end of 2021.

“Now if we were to receive a letter tomorrow — we are ready to sign it and send it back to Washington,” he said. "But thus far there has been no answer to any of our suggestions. And without a new START treaty, there is nothing to curb an arms race. And that, in my opinion, is bad.”

Putin's annual year-end news conference, which draws some 2,000 journalists, is largely geared toward issues affecting Russian society, economy, pensions, and the provinces, rather than international events.

Other topics Putin discussed:

Putin laughs after President Trump playfully tells him: 'Don't meddle in the election' Years after Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election prompted investigations, President Trump asked Vladimir Putin not to do it again in 2020.

Moscow 'will mirror' US sanctions

Putin said Moscow would reciprocate against a new sanctions bill working its way through Congress that would punish Russian oligarchs over Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections and for Kremlin's Ukraine policies. If it goes into effect, Putin said, Russia "will mirror" the actions.

"There is nothing good about it, these are absolutely unfriendly acts against Russia," he added.

Changing Russian constitution so Putin can run again

Putin raised the prospects of changing the Russian constitution to drop a ban on a president serving more than two terms. The change would delete the phrase "consecutively" that currently bars him from running for reelection in 2024. After his first two terms in office, from 2000 to 2008, Putin side-stepped the limit by switching places with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, then returned to his presidential post in 2012.

"Your humble servant served two terms consecutively, then left his post, but with the constitutional right to return to the post of president again, because these two terms were not successive." he said. This clause "troubles some of our political analysts and public figures. Well, maybe it could be removed."

Putin says 'we need to do something about' climate change

"We're not really sure why global warming is happening, but we need to do something about it,” he said.

Putin also claimed that Russia has "the greenest energy system in the world," notably its development of liquefied natural gas and hydropower," Moscow Times reports.

He also said that if Russia's permafrost starts to melt "you can think for yourself what the consequences could be.”

Putin on Ukraine

He opposed any revision of the Minsk Agreement with Ukraine over disputed territory in eastern Ukraine. He said he was "concerned" over recent comments by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that the interim agreements, signed in 2014 and 2015, could be revisited. "If a revision of the Minsk Agreements starts, then the situation could enter a complete dead end,” the Russian president said.

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Russian doping scandal

Putin responded to the World Anti-Doping Agency's decision in December that slapped Russia with a four-year ban from international sports events, including next summer's Tokyo Olympics, over a longstanding doping scandal.

The ruling allows Russian athletes to compete if they can show they are clean competitors. The ruling means that Russia's flag, name and anthem will not appear at the Tokyo Games, and the country also could be stripped of hosting world championships in Olympic sports.

Putin said any punishments "should be individual" and not aimed at the entire Russian team. "Deal with specific people,” he said, adding: “We are doing everything to make sure Russian sport is clean.”

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