SOCHI/MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin launched one of his most stinging critiques of US foreign policy on Thursday, listing what he called some of the biggest betrayals in US-Russia relations.
He declined to say if he would run for a fourth presidential term in an election set for March, though he is expected to stand after dominating Russian politics for 18 years.
Instead, he used a high-profile televised discussion with foreign academics in southern Russia to reach back to what he regards as the darkest days of US-Russia relations.
Opinion polls suggest that harsh rhetoric towards the West plays well with many Russian voters, who credit Putin for restoring national pride and standing up to what they see as Western encroachment.
Asked by a Germany-based academic to identify what mistakes Moscow had made in its relations with the West, Putin told the Valdai discussion forum in the Black Sea resort of Sochi:
"Our biggest mistake was that we trusted you too much. You interpreted our trust as weakness and you exploited that."
Visibly angry at times, Putin cast Russia as the wronged party and its post-Soviet leadership as too naive and trusting.
"Unfortunately, our Western partners, having divided the USSR's geopolitical legacy, were certain of their own incontestable righteousness having declared themselves the victors of the 'Cold War,'" said Putin.
"They started to openly interfere in the sovereign affairs of countries and to export democracy in the same way as in their time the Soviet leadership tried to export the Socialist revolution to the whole world."