Russia doesn`t want a new cold war, says Putin

Reuters, St Petersburg :President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia did not want a new Cold war with the West and did not like to think it was slipping into one.”I am sure that nobody wants that. We certainly do not want that,” Putin said during a question and answer session at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.Putin also criticised NATO’s expansion, warning there would be consequences if the alliance continued what he said was its one-sided policy against Russia. If both sides coordinated on defence, he said there would be no new Cold War.Saint Petersburg, Russia: The Kremlin has strongly warned Washington against striking Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces, saying it would fuel turmoil across the entire region.President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that an attempt to topple Assad’s government “wouldn’t help a successful fight against terrorism and could plunge the region into total chaos.”Peskov made the statement while asked to comment about an internal document in which dozens of US State Department employees called for military action against Assad’s forces.President Barack Obama called for regime change in Syria early on in the five-year conflict, but so far has only authorized strikes against the ISIS group and other US-designated terror groups in Syria.Russia has conducted an air campaign in Syria since last September, helping Assad’s forces regain some ground.Russian President Vladimir Putin also criticised NATO’s expansion.APGerman minister criticises ‘warmongering’ Nato exercisesGerman Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has criticised Nato military exercises in Eastern Europe, accusing the organisation of “warmongering”.Mr Steinmeier said that extensive Nato manoeuvres launched this month were counterproductive to regional security and could enflame tensions with Russia.He urged the Nato military alliance to replace the exercises with more dialogue and co-operation with Russia.Nato launched a simulated Russian attack on Poland on 7 June.The two-week-long drill involves about 31,000 troops, including 14,000 from the US, 12,000 from Poland and 1,000 from the UK.It will also feature dozens of fighter jets and ships, along with 3,000 vehicles.”What we shouldn’t do now is inflame the situation further through sabre-rattling and warmongering,” Mr Steinmeier said in an interview to be published in Germany’s Bild am Sontag newspaper.”Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance’s eastern border will bring security, is mistaken.”We are well-advised to not create pretexts to renew an old confrontation,” he said.The exercises are intended to test Nato’s ability to respond to threats, and take place every two years.