Despite Donald Trump’s explosive statements about NATO, which have shaken the organization and the allies of the United States, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, assures that if he has to choose, he prefers Joe Biden as head of the House White. “He has more experience and is more predictable,” said the head of the Kremlin in an interview on Russian state television broadcast on the night of Wednesday to Thursday on Telegram.
In this way, Putin entered the 2024 presidential race in the United States for the first time. It was a question from Rossiya 1 channel presenter Pavel Zarubin, who wanted to know who was “better for us”, Biden, as a Democrat, or Trump, a Republican.
“Biden,” the Kremlin chief responded without hesitation. “He has more experience, he is predictable, an old-school politician,” he added to explain his choice. After a pause and a slight smile, he noted: “But we will work with any US president in whom the American people put their trust.”
Putin’s preference is surprising because Biden has led the Western response to the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which began almost two years ago. During this time, an iron curtain has once again been raised between Moscow and Western countries. They have imposed successive sanctions on Russia and have injected billions of dollars in financial aid and weapons into Kyiv.
On the contrary, when Trump was president, between 2017 and 2021, he was reluctant to directly criticize Putin. A few days ago he caused an earthquake among the allied countries by stating that he would not protect NATO members that do not dedicate sufficient resources to defense. At a campaign rally last Saturday in Conway, South Carolina, he said he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever the hell it wants” to NATO allies that don’t live up to their 2% spending commitment. GDP in defense.
On Wednesday, at another rally in North Charleston (South Carolina), he lowered his tone, according to Efe. But he reaffirmed his words and reiterated that NATO member countries must contribute more to the Alliance. Otherwise, the United States should not protect them. He even opined that the share of GDP for defense should be increased to 4%.
In the Russian television interview, Putin also spoke about Joe Biden’s health when the journalist asked him about the debate now open in the US.
The Russian president recalled that three years ago he met with the American president in Switzerland. “Even then people said I didn’t have the capacity. I didn’t see anything like that,” he said.
“In the United States, the electoral campaign takes on increasingly acute forms. In my opinion, it is not correct for us to interfere in that process,” she stated. Moscow should focus not on Biden’s health, but on the “political stance” of his Administration, which he considered “pernicious and erroneous.”
Putin also took the opportunity to talk about the latest big news about him that has gone around the world: the interview he gave last week to the ultra-conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson. The head of the Kremlin assured that he missed “incisive questions” from the communicator, considered a relevant figure of Trumpism.
“To be honest, I believed he was going to behave aggressively and ask pointed questions. “It is what I wanted, because he would have given me the opportunity to respond in the same way,” he assured.
