Clinton’s re-Sovietization claims ‘rubbish’: Putin

"It's very strange to hear when some colleagues abroad say that ... it is a rebirth of Russia's ambitions as the former Soviet Union. What rubbish,” Putin said while speaking to top activists in his presidential campaign on Monday.

Hilary Clinton last week claimed that Putin was trying to unite former Soviet countries to “re-Sovietize” Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Putin, however, dismissed Clinton’s claims, saying that there were only economic reasons for uniting the former Soviet allies.

    “This is a process which is totally natural. We have a common language, to a certain extent a common mentality, a common transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure,” the Russian President added.


Russian envoy to NATO Alexander Grushko also denied Clinton’s claims on Saturday, saying, "Sovietization is a cliche which, in my opinion, is absolutely incongruous with the actual processes that are taking place throughout the former USSR."

Grushko said that Moscow’s partnership with its neighbors was completely pragmatic, and that Kremlin was possible resources to cooperate with its neighbours."

Russia tried to pull together some of the former Soviet states, in what is named by Putin as the "Eurasian Union", an economic and political union of Russia, Belarus and several central Asian states.