Putin Says ‘Predictable’ Biden Better For Russia Than Trump

(Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin praised Joe Biden as a more reliable alternative for Russia than Donald Trump, making his first public comments on the American presidential election. 

“He’s a more experienced person, he’s predictable, he’s an old-style politician,” the Russian president said of Biden in a state television interview when asked which of the two leading candidates would be better for Russia, according to video released by the Kremlin. 

Putin dismissed a question about the 81-year-old US president’s mental acuity. Putin, 71, praised Biden’s sharpness at their last encounter, in Geneva three years ago. “Even then, there was talk he wasn’t competent but I didn’t see anything like that. Yes, he looked at his notes but I also looked at mine. It was nothing.”

Eight years ago, Putin publicly praised then-candidate Trump amid accusations that the Kremlin sought to interfere in the 2016 election in his favor. Those allegations cast a shadow over the 2017-2021 Trump presidency. 

Trump has repeatedly spoken in glowing terms about the Russian leader, while Biden this week accused the former president of kowtowing to Putin.

Those comments came after Trump last weekend claimed he’d told the president of one NATO member country that he’d let Russia do “whatever the hell they want” if the nation didn’t hit the bloc’s defense-spending targets.

At a rally in South Carolina on Wednesday evening, Trump said Putin, by praising Biden, “has just given me a great compliment. That’s a good thing.”

Despite his endorsement of Biden, Putin welcomed Trump’s position on the alliance, which Moscow views as a threat. “There is probably some logic from his point of view,” he said of Trump’s comments. 

Read More: Trump Eyes NATO Makeover, Hurried Peace in Ukraine If Elected

“Trump’s always been called a non-systemic politician,” Putin added. “He has his own view of how the US should develop relations with its allies and there have been sparks in the past, as well.”

At the same time, Putin denounced the Biden administration’s approach to Russia as “harmful and mistaken.” The Kremlin leader regularly criticizes the US for its support of Ukraine’s campaign to repel Moscow’s invasion, among other issues.

Putin showed no doubt over starting the war. “We can only regret that we didn’t act earlier,” he said.

He reiterated that the US and its allies should concede they’ve failed to defeat Russia. “If they see they aren’t getting their result, then they need to make changes,” he said. “But that’s a question for the art of politics, which is the art of compromise.”

(Updates with Trump remark at rally in seventh paragraph.)

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