(Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin shrugged off Donald Trump's decision to abandon the most ambitious effort to combat global warming, marking the third time in two days that the Russian president came to the defense of his embattled U.S. counterpart.
โDon't worry, be happy,โ Putin said in English, responding to a question about the Paris climate accord from Megyn Kelly, the NBC television host who moderated the main event at his annual investment forum in St. Petersburg.
During an expansive three-hourย panel discussion that was joined by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Kremlin leader once again rejected U.S. claims of Russian state-sponsored hacking in elections and dismissed reports of improper contact between his officials and Trump's presidential campaign, comparing the allegations to anti-semitism.
โThey blamed the Jews for everything -- we know what this sort of attitude leads to,โ Putin said. โIt's easier to say that it's not our fault, that it's the Russians, they meddled in our elections and we're the good guys.โ
โTake a Pill'
Putin said he wouldn't โjudgeโ Trump for pulling out of the climate pact, which almost 200 nations approved in 2015, including Russia. He said there's still time to reach a new deal but not without the U.S., so the international community should โcreate the conditions for joint work.โ
The New York property tycoon, who praised Putin repeatedly during last year's presidential campaign, is facing multiple probes in Washington into the extent of his alleged links to the Kremlin. Putin said that Russia struck no agreements at meetings with representatives of the incoming Trump team and that Americans โshould take a pillโ to calm the โhysteriaโ over the issue.
โThey didn't talk about anything concrete, just general words about how to build relations -- shouldn't they think about how to build relations?โ he said.
Earlier on Friday, Putin made an unscheduled appearance at a roundtable for U.S. and Russianย companies to urge American executives to help Trump end tensions between the two countries, which he said are at โCold Warโ levels.
Help Trump
โHelp us to restore normal political dialogue,โ Putin told the participants. โI ask you on behalf of Russia and I urge the American side -- help the newly elected president and the new administration of the United States.โ
โOf course, we'll make every effort to ensure that business in Russia is beneficial for our American partners,โ Putin said.
On Thursday, the KGB veteran told a small group of journalists at a czarist-era palace here that he likes outspoken guys like Trump and he applauded the new White House occupant for defending himself against the kind of entrenched bureaucracy that's prevalent in capital cities around the world.
โHe's direct, open,โ said Putin, who's commanded Russia for 17 years. โHe can't be put in the same category as traditional politicians. I see great advantages because he's a person with a fresh view.โ
Artistic Hackers
Putin, who is widely expected to seek a final six-year term in March, went out of his way to use Russia's premier business event of the year to heap praise on Trump, at one point calling him a โreal man.โ He also used the spotlight to intensify his rejection of allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Kremlin-backed hackers interfered in the 2016 election.
The nature of sophisticated cyberattacks are such that they can be made to look like they came from anywhere, Putin said, adding that there's โno proofโ of any involvement by Russia at the โstate level.โ Still, he dangled the possibility that patriotic Russians could have been behind the electronic intrusions into the campaign of Trump's main challenger, Hillary Clinton.ย
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The St. Petersburg native, 64, compared hackers to free-spirited โartistsโ who may wake up one morning, see how their homeland is being maligned in the foreign media and decide to act on their own.
โIf they're patriotically minded, they start making their contribution,'' he said.
Calculated Risk
In the carefully scripted world of Kremlin power politics, Putin is taking a calculated risk that Trump will emerge from what the U.S. president has called a โwitch huntโ and deliver on his pledge of better relations with Russia.
The two men have spoken by phone since Trump took office in January, but have never met. They are expected to hold their first face-to-face meeting at theย Group of 20 summit in Germany next month.
โPutin still has hopes of building ties,โ said Gleb Pavlovsky, a political analyst who advised the Kremlin until 2011. โIt would be stupid to offend Trump now.โ
To contact the reporters on this story: Ilya Arkhipov in St Petersburg at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net, Andrey Biryukov in Moscow at abiryukov5@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net, Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Brad Cook, Tony Halpin
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