Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he had warned European countries years ago about the risk of the US imposing its rules on others, and that they were now paying the price for ignoring him. Speaking during an annual live television phone-in with the Russian people, Putin likened the tariffs that Washington imposed last week on steel and aluminium imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union to economic sanctions. "It appears our partners thought that this would never affect them, this counterproductive politics of restrictions and sanctions. But now we are seeing that this is happening." The president said he had warned in a speech in Munich in 2007 about a growing US sense of exceptionalism and the risk of it imposing its own rules on other countries. "That is exactly what is happening now. Nobody wanted to listen, and nobody did anything to stop this from developing. Well, there you go, you’ve been hit. Dinner is served … please sit down and eat...
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