Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia played a direct role in the early formation of the United States, claiming the Imperial government furnished weapons and money to American revolutionaries fighting Great Britain and later backed the Union during the U.S. Civil War. “We supported their desire for independence, actually supplied them with weapons, provided financial assistance and so on,” Putin told state television journalist Pavel Zarubin in an interview broadcast 6 July. Putin added that Russia’s Baltic and Pacific fleets were dispatched to New York and San Francisco during 1863–64 as a signal to Britain and France not to intervene on the Confederacy’s behalf. By highlighting these 18th- and 19th-century episodes, the Kremlin leader said Moscow and Washington have “always found something that united us,” portraying the two powers as historic partners despite current tensions. The remarks come amid Russia’s continuing confrontation with the West over its war in Ukraine and follow a pattern of Putin invoking historical narratives to frame modern geopolitics. The full interview is part of a wider series of conversations the president has held with Zarubin on Russia’s foreign policy and domestic goals.