Putin Blasts Cheney Criticism, But Calls U.S. ‘Major Partner’

SOCHI, Russia — President Vladimir V. Putin said Thursday that Russia wanted good relations with the United States, but he objected vigorously to Vice President Dick Cheney’s recent comments alleging democratic backtracking by the Kremlin.

“We see how the United States defends its interests; we see what methods and means they use for this,” Putin said at a news conference after a summit with the European Union.

In a speech this month in Lithuania, Cheney accused the Kremlin of rolling back democracy and strong-arming its ex-Soviet neighbors.

Even before Cheney’s speech, relations had been sliding. In March, Putin alleged that the United States had put up obstacles to slow Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization, and the Pentagon accused Moscow of giving intelligence on U.S. troop movements in Iraq to Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The two countries, which proclaimed themselves “strategic partners” just a few years ago, are in opposing camps on how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program.

Putin said that despite the friction, the U.S. remained “one of our major partners.” But he suggested that no nation had the right to interfere in Russia’s relations with other countries.