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Putin Says Russian Relations With U.S. Are Getting ‘Worse and Worse’

Russian president blames U.S. sanctions for the deterioration of relations, hours after Trump said he would be open to foreign intelligence help.

If Vladimir Putin thought helping Donald Trump get elected in 2016 would temper U.S. policy toward Russia, it seems he’s disappointed. In an interview published Thursday, the Russian president said relations between Moscow and Washington were rapidly deteriorating as the U.S. continues to impose dozens of sanctions on his country. “They [relations] are deteriorating, getting worse and worse,” Putin told the Mir TV channel, according to Reuters. Putin made his comments ahead of a G20 summit in Japan this month, where he might meet with Trump. They also came hours after Trump, in an interview with on ABC News, said he’d accept intelligence and campaign help from a foreign power—which Putin is accused of doing for the 2016 U.S. elections.