In an on-camera interview with pro-Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin on Wednesday (February 14), Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that US President Joe Biden is better for Russia than Donald Trump.
When questioned by Zarubin about the approaching US presidential election, Putin stated that Biden would be better for Russia “because he is a more experienced person, he is predictable, and he is an old-school politician.”
However, Putin stated that Russia will “work with any US leader who gains the trust of the American people”.
Putin dismissed the question of Biden’s age and mental health. In response to queries about Biden’s age and mental condition, he stated that when they met in 2021, he didn’t detect anything peculiar.
“Even then [three years ago] people were saying that he was incompetent, but I did not see anything of this sort. Yes, he kept looking at his papers, but to be honest I kept doing the same. So there was nothing peculiar,” he said.
Putin further stated that in order to judge the current administration’s actions, one should understand its “political position”.
“I believe that the position of the current administration is extremely harmful and erroneous,” said Putin, regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
According to Putin, the war “could have been over a year and a half ago” if commitments struck at an Istanbul meeting in March 2022 were implemented. However, he did not specify which agreements he was referring to.
The Russian president expressed regret that he “didn’t start active actions in Ukraine earlier” than February 2022, stating that Western leaders had deceived to Russia about “not expanding NATO to the East”.
Watch: Russian President Putin says he prefers Joe Biden to Donald Trump in the White House
“We were and are concerned about the possibility of Ukraine being drawn into NATO since this threatens our security,” said Putin.
The Russian president further said that the Minsk agreement, which was a cease-fire arrangement signed by Russia and Ukraine in 2015, was never meant to be followed but used “to buy time to load Ukraine with additional weapons”.
The Russian leader also voiced dissatisfaction with his recent interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson.
“I honestly thought he would be aggressive and ask tough questions. I wasn’t only ready for that, I wanted that because it would give me the opportunity to give tough answers back,” said Putin.
“To be frank, I didn’t fully enjoy that interview,” he added.