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Vladimir Putin said Joe Biden would be a better US president for Russia than Donald Trump and dismissed concerns about his counterpart’s age and acuity in the role.
Putin’s comments late Wednesday marked his first foray into this year’s presidential election as tensions rise between Democrats and Republicans over the White House’s efforts to send more military aid to Ukraine.
When asked in an interview on state television to choose between Biden and Trump, Putin said the American leader is “more experienced, predictable, an old-school politician,” adding that Russia “would work with any American leader that wins the trust of the American people.” ”.
The Russian president’s comments came a day after Biden accused Trump of “bowing to a Russian dictator” as he urged Republicans in Congress to defy Trump and support more funding for Ukraine.
Trump’s presidency from 2017 to 2021 was dogged by accusations of too much sympathy for Putin. US intelligence assessed that Russia had interfered in the 2016 White House race to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
Putin on Wednesday suggested that concerns about Biden’s age and mental acuity were part of the US election campaign that is “becoming increasingly ferocious” and said he had seen no evidence that his counterpart was unfit for office.
In their last meeting in Geneva in 2021, Putin recalled, “they were already saying that Biden was not competent [ . . . ] but I haven’t seen anything like that. Yes, she looked at her notes and, to be honest, I looked at mine. Nothing serious. So she hit her head on the helicopter as she was coming down – who among us hasn’t hit her head on something?
Despite his cautious support for Biden, Putin said American policy towards Russia was “harmful and wrong” and suggested Trump was right to cast aspersions on NATO’s future.
The United States has provided crucial military and financial aid to Ukraine since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of the country two years ago, but is struggling to secure congressional support for a new $60 billion round of funding amid a wave of Republican hostility led by Trump. .
The former US president, who is all but certain to challenge Biden as the Republican nominee in November, said last week that he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell it wants” to NATO countries that have failed to meet their goals. defense spending.
“There is probably some logic in his point of view” in conditioning U.S. support for NATO allies on reaching the alliance’s goal, currently 2% of gross domestic product, Putin said. “There is no logic from the Europeans’ point of view: they want the United States to continue performing some functions for free, as they have done since the founding of NATO.”
“If the United States thinks it doesn’t need it [Nato] more, then it will be their decision,” Putin added, saying that Trump “had his own views on how US relations with its allies should develop.”