Putin on Brexit: No one wants to support weak economies

June 24, 2016 at 09:31

Russian President Vladimir Putin says ‘Brexit’ is the choice made by the British nation and is a comprehensible one, as “no one wants to feed weak economies.” Russia has not and does not plan to interfere with the results of the referendum, he added.

“I think it’s comprehensible why this happened: first, no one wants to feed and subsidize poorer economies, to support other states, support entire nations,” the Russian president said at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tashkent.

“Apparently the British people are not satisfied with the way problems are being solved in the security sphere, these problems have become more acute lately with the migration processes,” Putin said, suggesting the second reason for the British people to have voted ‘out.’

The Russian president's comments come in reply to UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s claims that “Putin would be happy if the UK left the EU.”

The president says such claims were an ill-posed attempt to influence the general opinion of the British public.

“But as we see now, even claims like these have not had the effect desired by those who made them. No one has the right to make claims on Russia’s position, especially after the votes were counted. This is nothing but an example of a low level of political culture,” Putin said.

The Russian head of state noted that Moscow has never interfered with the British referendum and never made any statements on the matter.

“I believe we acted rather tactfully, watching the situation closely, but never interfering with the process. We’ve never even tried to affect it,” Putin added.