Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday the US was in the grip of a fabricated spy mania whipped up by President Donald Trump’s opponents but he thought battered US-Russia relations would recover one day. Putin also praised the US president for what he said were his achievements. "I’m not the one to evaluate the [US] president’s work. That needs to be done by the voters, the American people," Putin told his annual news conference. "[But] we are objectively seeing that there have been some major accomplishments, even in the short time he has been working. Look at how the markets have grown. This speaks to investors’ trust in the American economy," Putin said. Trump took office in January, saying he was keen to mend ties which had fallen to a post-Cold War low. But since then, ties have soured further after US officials said Russia meddled in the presidential election, something Moscow denies. The US Congress is also investigating alleged contacts between the Trump ...

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