In an interview with Russian state television Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised U.S. President Donald Trump, calling him a “clever and pragmatic man,” and signaled a willingness to negotiate on a variety of issues.
He also seemingly agreed with Trump that the war in Ukraine might not have ever started if Trump had stayed in office in 2020 and Joe Biden hadn’t come along to royally screw things up.
“We always had a business-like, pragmatic but also trusting relationship with the current U.S. president,” Putin said. “I couldn’t disagree with him that if he had been president, if they hadn’t stolen victory from him in 2020, the crisis that emerged in Ukraine in 2022 could have been avoided.”
Putin’s statement was his bluntest endorsement yet of Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat in the 2020 election.
Two things come to mind…
