MOSCOW, Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he preferred Joe Biden to Donald Trump but was willing to work with any US president.
He made the announcement in an interview aired on Wednesday. President Putin was asked by interviewer Pavel Zarubin who is “better for us” out of Democrat Biden and Republican Trump.
Putin called his US counterpart Joe Biden “more predictable” than Donald Trump, but said the Kremlin was ready to work with whoever wins the November election.
Putin responded: “Biden. He is a more experienced, predictable person, an old-school politician. But we will work with any American president that the American people trust.”
Putin said Biden is a more experienced, predictable, old-school politician.
Putin brushed aside questions about Biden’s age and health, with the president turning 82 just weeks after the election.
American polls show voters have strong concerns about Biden’s age.
Adding to the age issue are two recent episodes where Biden mistook European leaders for dead predecessors.
The White House was forced to vehemently defend the president’s competence last week after a special counsel’s report described him as “an elderly man with a failing memory.”
Biden himself reacted angrily to the accusations, but then compounded the problem by confusing the presidents of Egypt and Mexico.
Trump, 77, has also recently mixed up people’s names, mistaking his final rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Nikki Haley, for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Nevertheless, Putin expressed strong opposition to Washington’s foreign policy under Biden.
The Biden administration led the Western response to aid Ukraine in its two-year conflict with Russia.
The stated preference for Biden comes despite his harsh criticism of Putin and after Trump has expressed admiration for the Kremlin leader on numerous occasions.
The Republican also faced heavy criticism after he recently suggested he would encourage Russia to attack any NATO country it believed had not paid enough money to support the alliance.
