Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprising pick in the upcoming US presidential election, saying he prefers “predictable” President Joe Biden over Donald Trump, who’s complimented Putin over the years.
“[Biden] is a more experienced, predictable person, a politician of the old school,” Putin, 71, told interviewer Pavel Zarubin on Rossiya 1 TV. “But we will work with any U.S. president who the American people have confidence in.”
Russia has been widely accused of meddling in the 2016 election by numerous US intelligence agencies. Putin is widely believed to be interested in stoking internal US divisions.
Throughout his presidency, former President Donald Trump, 77, was dogged by accusations from critics that he was overly cozy with the Russian leader.
Even after his presidency, Trump continued to speak highly of Putin, calling him a “genius” and “savvy” after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Despite his rhetoric, Trump’s administration took some hardline actions against the Kremlin, overseeing harsh sanctions against Moscow and sending lethal arms to Ukraine, something his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, declined to do.
Biden, 81, took that a step further in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, dialing up sanctions to another level and marshaling even more weaponry to the war-torn ally.
Trump has since voiced skepticism about the aid being sent to Ukraine, suggesting that writing a loan would be a smarter approach, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Recently, he triggered backlash for bashing members of the NATO alliance who do not uphold their commitment to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.
“I said, ‘Everybody’s gonna pay.’ They said, ‘Well, if we don’t pay, are you still going to protect us?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ They couldn’t believe the answer,” Trump recalled at a rally in Conway, South Carolina over the weekend.
He then recalled that “one of the presidents of a big country” asked him whether the US would defend that nation from a Russian invasion if they “don’t pay.”
“No, I would not protect you,” Trump recounted replying. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”
On Tuesday, Biden castigated Trump for equivocating on whether the US would back NATO allies even if they don’t fulfill their obligations.
“Imagine a former president of the United States saying that,” Biden said. “The whole world heard it. The worst thing is he means it. No other president in history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator.”
Biden vowed that he “will not walk away” from the 31-member bloc and described Trump’s remarks as a “dangerous and shockingly, frankly un-American signal to the world.”
Trump later doubled down.
“Could somebody please inform our uninformable President that NATO has to pay their bills! They are right now paying a small fraction of what we are for the Disaster in Ukraine which, if we had a real President, would never have happened,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Putin is widely expected to win his reelection bid for another six-year term to remain president of Russia, which is set to take place in March.
Both Trump and Biden are their respective party’s frontrunners for the nomination to be standard bearer for the Nov. 5 presidential election.