Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned Western elites against trying to sabotage a potential rapprochement between Russia and the United States.

Putin gave the warning at the Federal Security Service, saying Moscow would use its diplomats and intelligence services to thwart such efforts.

He expressed satisfaction with the way an attempted reboot in ties between Moscow and Washington was progressing, even though it was still early days.

“I note that the first contacts with the new American administration inspire certain hopes. There is a reciprocal mood to work to restore intergovernmental ties and to gradually resolve the huge number of systemic and strategic problems that have built up in the world’s security architecture,” said Putin.

The Russian leader applauded the fact that his country’s current partners were demonstrating what he called pragmatism and realism, in an apparent reference to Joe Biden’s administration abandoning the ideological clichés of their predecessors, which he said had caused a crisis in international relations.

According to him, it was clear that not all countries were in favor of the idea of warmer ties between the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.