Talks on raising level of mutual trust should involve only Russia and U.S. - Putin

MOSCOW. Feb 25 (Interfax) - Russia and the United States first need to raise the level of mutual trust to be able to tackle difficult issues such as the Ukraine crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, adding that Moscow and Washington are now taking steps to establish trust, and Europe has nothing to do with this process.

"In order to resolve complex and rather acute issues, including those on the Ukraine track, Russia and the U.S. have to take the first step. What does it consist of? This first step should deal with increasing the level of trust between the two states. This is what we did in Riyadh. Upcoming contacts, possibly other contacts at the high level will focus on that too," Putin said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin.

"Without that, it is impossible to resolve any issue, including a difficult and acute one such as the Ukraine crisis," he said.

"But what do the Europeans have to do with it? It is a matter for bilateral Russian-U.S. relations. What do we need them here for?" Putin said.

Putin said he has seen European representatives' reaction to his phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump and the high-level meeting between Russia and the U.S. in Riyadh. He described this reaction "as emotional and lacking any practical sense."

Putin said that both his phone call with Trump and the negotiations in Riyadh touched upon the Ukraine crisis, "but it was not discussed in detail."

"We only agreed that we would move toward this. And in this case, of course, we are not rejecting the participation of European countries," he said.