During Sunday night’s Democratic debate, the former U.S. Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was asked about the possibility of improvement of diplomatic ties between the United States and Russia. Hillary Clinton said thate her relationship with Vladimir Putin can be described as “interesting”.

She also added that this relationship are build on respect, though sometimes they have very tough dealings with each other. According to her, Putin is “someone that you have to continuously stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do”.

However, Hillary Clinton doesn’t seem to become more friendly to Russia and its President. She said that she was pleased that the Europeans had put sanctions on the country after the decision of Crimea to join Russia and the downing of the airline in Eastern Ukraine. She also wished to see the Europeans more determined in their position against Russia and united in preventing Putin from talking a more “aggressive” stance in Europe and the Middle East.