DIn his own words, Russian head of state Vladimir Putin finds another term in office for US President Joe Biden more desirable than a return of Donald Trump to the White House. When asked by a journalist in Moscow on Wednesday which winner Russia would like in the American presidential election on November 5th, Putin replied: “Biden, he is more experienced. He’s predictable, he’s an old-school politician.”
The Russian government will “work with any US leader in whom the US people have trust,” Putin assured. The Kremlin published excerpts of the interview for the program “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin.”
Addressing widespread concerns about Biden’s advanced age of 81, the Russian president said: “In fact, when I met Mr. Biden three years ago, people were already talking about his shortcomings, but I haven’t seen anything like that.” According to US polls, U.S. voters have grave concerns about the Democrat’s ability to hold office given his advanced age.
However, Putin also expressed clear criticism of US foreign policy under Biden on Wednesday. “What we need to examine is the political stance, and that of the current government is extremely harmful and wrong,” the Kremlin leader said. Biden is a staunch supporter of Ukraine, against which Russia has been waging a military offensive for almost two years.
Putin describes Baerbock as “hostile”
Putin also criticized German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. The Green politician is not only hostile to Russia. “It is also hostile to its own country,” he said, referring to the Greens’ energy policy.
The Greens fueled people’s fears of climate change. But when they came to power thanks to this fear, they pursued a completely different policy: In Germany, more energy is now being produced from coal, said Putin.
Regarding Baerbock’s alleged hostility towards his own country, the Kremlin chief said: “It is difficult to imagine that a politician of this rank would be so dismissive of the economic interests of her country, her people.” He did not elaborate. The background can be assumed to be the traffic light government’s policy of making Germany independent of Russian gas because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Baerbock makes no secret of her criticism of Russia and advocates strong European support for Ukraine.
In the interview, Putin first had to make sure that he was pronouncing the name Baerbock correctly. The reason for the comments about the German Foreign Minister was that the journalist Pawel Sarubin asked him about Baerbock’s grandfather’s involvement in National Socialism. The Green Party politician speaks openly about her grandfather, who was a Wehrmacht officer on the Eastern Front. “I don’t believe that today’s generation of Germans should bear full political responsibility for what Nazi Germany did,” Putin said.
Trump speaks of a “great compliment”
Trump viewed Putin’s comments on Wednesday at a campaign event in the US state of South Carolina as a “great compliment.” The Republican told his supporters about Putin: “I get along well with him, but he doesn’t want me, he wants Biden.” Then he added: “Biden will give him Ukraine.”
Biden has repeatedly criticized Putin sharply. His Republican predecessor Trump, however, has repeatedly expressed his admiration for the Kremlin boss. Trump also said at a rally on Saturday that he would not come to the aid of NATO countries that do not spend enough on defense in an attack. He would then even encourage Russia to do “whatever it wants” with them.
This triggered sharp criticism from the USA’s partner countries and US President Biden. “For God’s sake, that’s stupid, that’s shameful, that’s dangerous, that’s un-American,” Biden said.
The US President, for his part, repeatedly gives rise to discussions with slips of the tongue and mix-ups. Biden recently confused the late former Chancellor Helmut Kohl with the former Chancellor Angela Merkel, and also the late French head of state François Mitterrand with the incumbent Emmanuel Macron.
The Republicans enjoy exploiting Biden’s verbal missteps – even though their prospective, 77-year-old presidential candidate Trump also repeatedly raises eyebrows by mixing up names and making bizarre statements.
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