The ideology of Russian President Vladimir Putin is close to liberalism and is based on achieving the goals of developing the country and ensuring Russians’ prosperity, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Peskov dismissed a remark by former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul that the Russian leader allegedly favored the ideology of anti-Western and anti-American anti-liberalism.
"No, Putin’s ideology cannot be related to [anything] abroad, the key ideology of Putin is the development, stability and prosperity of Russia and each Russian," Peskov clarified.
All foreign policy goals and issues of fostering Russia’s relations with other countries are based on this, he noted. "Everything should be in the interests of Russia and for Russians," he stressed.
According to Peskov, Putin shares the ideas of sovereign Russian liberalism. "Any [sort of] liberalism cannot be universal, it can rely only on national features of each state," TASS cited him as saying.
"There is no pure liberal system in any country of the world, but the elements of liberalism are present almost" in any state, although not in all of them. "They are present in our [state]," Peskov specified.
