Putin says Biden is better for Russia than Trump, citing experience and predictability
A week after granting an exclusive interview to one of Donald Trump’s most influential allies in the news media, Vladimir Putin told a state media correspondent that it’s better for Russia to have Joe Biden in the White House than Trump. “He’s a more experienced person, he’s predictable, and he’s an old-school politician,” Putin said of Joe Biden, adding that Moscow “will work with any leader whom the American people trust.”
The Russian president also addressed rising concerns about Biden’s allegedly declining cognitive abilities and attributed the criticisms to U.S. partisan politics in an election year:
I met with Biden in Switzerland; it was three years ago, and even then, they were saying he was incapacitated. But I saw nothing like that. Sure, he glanced at his notes just as I glanced at mine. It was nothing unusual. And the fact that he bonked his head exiting a helicopter at some point, well, let he among us who’s never bonked his head cast the first stone.
At the same time, Putin reiterated his strong opposition to Biden’s policies on Russia and called the administration’s position in Ukraine “extremely harmful and foolish.” “And I told this to President Biden at the time,” Putin explained.