Russian President Vladimir Putin says he wants President Biden to continue in office, not former President Donald Trump, calling the incumbent “more predictable” than his Republican challenger.
Asked by journalist Pavel Zarubin what his preference would be for the 2024 election, Putin said: “Biden. He’s an old-fashioned politician who is more experienced and also more predictable.” According to the notes It was provided by the Kremlin this week.
“That said, we will work with American leaders who have the trust of the American people,” he continued.
Despite his preference for Biden, Putin did not stop at criticizing the White House.
“I believe that the current administration is pursuing policies that amount to harmful and wrong policies. This is what I conveyed to President Biden at the time,” Putin said, the Kremlin reported. .
Trump, who has always described the autocratic President Putin as “smart,” called the remarks “a great compliment” at a rally in South Carolina.
“He just said he would rather have Joe Biden as president than Trump,” he said. “Now that’s a compliment. …And of course he would say that.”
“He doesn’t want to get me. He wants Biden because he can give him everything he wants, including Ukraine,” Trump added.
Hill has reached out to the White House and Trump campaign for further comment.
Biden took office in February 2022, about a year before Russia invaded Ukraine, and has maintained staunch support for Kiev. The United States has provided billions of dollars in funding and ammunition to Ukraine, but additional funding remains up in the air as lawmakers struggle to reach an agreement on the topic.
The Senate passed a $95.3 billion emergency defense spending bill earlier this week that would provide $60 billion to Ukraine, but House Republicans remain opposed to introducing a funding bill without provisions addressing border and immigration policy.
In his interview with Zarbuin, Putin appeared to dismiss swirling concerns about Biden’s age and mental health.
“What this suggests to me is that electoral campaigns and domestic political struggles are gaining momentum in the United States. These processes are deteriorating, so I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to consider that. ” he said.
The Russian leader recalled meeting with the president in Geneva in 2021 and said he didn’t see anything that made Biden unfit to be president.
“Well, he [Biden] I was glancing at his notes, and to be honest, I was also glancing at my own. There is nothing special about it,” Putin said. “And the fact that he hit his head on something while descending from a helicopter, well, who hasn’t hit their head on something? As the saying goes, let them be the first stone.” Please let me throw it.”
Last week, special counsel Robert Hur released a report into Biden’s handling of classified documents, which included scathing descriptions of the president’s various memory lapses.
Mr. Hoar described Mr. Biden as an “old man with a poor memory,” a comment that drew outrage from the administration and Democrats, who said it was irrelevant and baseless.
Meanwhile, President Trump has faced backlash after saying he would actually encourage Russian aggression against “delinquent” NATO allies who are not meeting their defense spending targets.
The former president has repeatedly touted his relationship with Putin, claiming last year that Putin was his “enemy” during his administration. He claimed that if re-elected to the Oval Office, he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours.
During his time in office, Trump faced bipartisan criticism for siding with Putin over the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusions about Russian interference in the 2016 election.
President Trump said in 2018, “I have a lot of confidence in the people in the intelligence community, but today I want to tell you that President Putin has very strongly and forcefully denied it.”
“He just said this is not Russia. I want to say, I don’t see why that would be the case,” he added.
Contributed by Lauren Sfroza.
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