Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated Wednesday that he would prefer “predictable” President Joe Biden to defeat former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
In a Wednesday interview with Russian television, Pavel Zarubin asked Putin who was “better” for Russia, Trump or Biden. Putin answered, “Biden. He is the more experienced person. He is predictable. He is an old-school politician.”
While Putin indicated that he would rather work with Biden, the Russian president claimed that Russia would “work with any U.S. president who the American people have confidence in.”
According to Reuters, Wednesday’s interview with the Russian president was the first time Putin has publicly given his perspective on the 2024 presidential election in the United States.
In addition to stating his preference for working with Biden over Trump, Putin addressed concerns regarding Biden’s mental capacity to lead the United States. “When I met with Biden in Switzerland – true, that was several years, three years ago – people were already saying he wasn’t up to it,” Putin said. “I didn’t see anything of the kind.”
Following Putin’s public interview on Russian television, Trump addressed the Russian president’s perceived endorsement of his opponent during a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina.
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The former president said, “President Putin of Russia has just given me a great compliment, actually. He just said that he would much rather have Joe Biden as president than Trump. Now that’s a compliment… And of course, he would say that.”
Donald Trump Jr. also commented on Putin’s preference for Biden over Trump. He tweeted that Putin said “the quiet part out loud” during Wednesday’s interview. Slamming Biden for the way his administration has allowed Russia to become more aggressive in Europe, Trump Jr. said Putin “prefers Biden to Trump because he’s more ‘predictable.'”
“In other words, because he can play him like a fiddle,” he added. “No wonder Putin invaded another country in every presidency from Bush to Obama to Biden … but not under Trump.”
