Despite Donald Trump’s explosive statements that shake NATO and the allies of the United States, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, if he has to choose, prefers that Joe Biden remain at the head of the White House in Washington. “He has more experience and is more predictable,” the Kremlin chief said in an interview on Russian state television broadcast Thursday night on Telegram.
Putin commented in this way for the first time on the 2024 presidential race in the United States. It was a question from presenter Pável Zarubin, who wanted to know who was “better for us”, Biden, a Democrat; or Trump, Republican.
“Biden,” the Kremlin head responded without hesitation. “He has more experience, he is a predictable person, 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 Joe Biden has led the Western response to Russia’s military intervention 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 Kyiv with billions of dollars in financial aid and weapons.
In contrast, when Trump was president, between 2017 and 2021, he was reluctant to directly criticize Putin.
And these days it has caused a strong scandal among allied countries by saying that it would not protect NATO members that do not dedicate sufficient resources to Defense. At a campaign rally in Conway, South Carolina, the former president of the United States said last Saturday that he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever the hell it wants” with NATO allies that do not meet their spending commitment. 2% of its GDP in Defense.
This Wednesday, at another rally in North Charleston (South Carolina), Trump 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 protect them.
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 United States.
The Russian president recalled that three years ago he met with Biden in Switzerland. “Even then people said that he had no capacity. I didn’t see anything like that,” Putin said.
“In the United States, the internal political campaign, the electoral campaign, is very strong; it takes on increasingly sharp forms. In my opinion it is not correct that we interfere in that process,” he stressed.
