Putin offers McCain to come to Russia to make up for deficit of information

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has offered U.S. Senator John McCain to visit a session of the Valdai International Discussion Club which was set up by a major Moscow-based news agency as a floor giving experts from around the world an opportunity to debate on ‘Russian issues’. Putin believes that participation in a session might help McCain make up for the deficit of information about Russia. Speaking at the Discussion Club, President Vladimir Putin admitted that the present government in Russia had its flaws and shortcomings, but then no government in any democratic country is perfect. “Russia probably does deserve a better government. But does the United States have such a government? This is a big question,” Putin said. Sovereignty, independence and integrity of Russia are beyond questioning, he added. “These are red lines that no one may cross,” he said. Putin is convinced that “it is impossible to speak about a national future without patriotism of all the participants in this discussion.” At the same time, he noted that “there is no patriotism in the pure meaning of this word, of course.”