Published:
7 Nov 2024 18:47 GMT
The Russian president called Trump a “brave” man and stressed that his behavior at the time of the attempt on his life impressed him.
The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, congratulated Donald Trump this Thursday on his victory in the US presidential elections.
“I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election as president of the United States. As I have said, we will work with any head of state that the American people trust. This will be fulfilled in practice,” Putin said in his speech during the plenary session of the XXI Valdai International Discussion Forum, which began on Monday in the Russian city of Sochi.
He also assured that he does not consider it “a shame” to call Trump. “I don’t think it’s shameful to call him, I just don’t do it because the leaders of Western countries used to call me almost every week, but then they stopped doing it, they don’t want to. Well, they don’t need it, we are alive, healthy and developing. Yes some of them want to resume contact, I have always said and I want to say again that we have nothing against“explained the president. Putin also said during the event that he did not know if Trump wanted to speak now, but that they had a normal relationship in the past.
Among other things, Putin said that a “stupid” person I couldn’t be in power in the U.S. “It’s hard to imagine a man rising to the pinnacle of power in one of the most important countries in the world and being a completely insignificant, stupid, uninteresting person,” he said. “The fact is that the domestic political culture in the US is such that the internal political struggle is increasingly acute […] and harmful tools are often used,” he added.
“Covert intervention”
Putin stressed that, for example, stories about George Bush Jr.’s supposedly low IQ are a complete lie.
“Remember how many attacks there were on Bush: ‘He’s illiterate and unintelligent.’ It’s all a lie. We had a lot of disagreements, but on a personal level, when I talked to him, I assure you he’s not inferior to those sitting in this room,” Putin assured. In this sense, he revealed that George HW Bush Sr., in a private conversation, described it as a big mistake that the Americans boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games, which were held in Moscow.
“So what? Nothing has changed: practically all the last leaders “Americans have tried to carry out a ‘covert intervention’ towards Russia,” Putin denounced.
“brave man”
Commenting on the personality of the future president, Putin noted that during his first term everyone said that Trump was “above all a businessman”, that “he didn’t understand much about politics and that he could make mistakes.” “Well, first of all, I can say: your behavior during the attempt on your life impressed me. He turned out to be a brave man. And it’s not just about the raised arm and the call to fight for their common ideals […] “A man shows himself in extraordinary circumstances, and he showed himself, in my opinion, very correctly, as a man,” Putin stressed.
“During the first term, I will say it honestly, I have the impression that They harassed him everywhere“They didn’t let him move, he was afraid to take a step to the left or to the right and to say one more word,” said the Russian head of state. Putin added that he had “no idea what is going to happen now.” “For him it is still the last mandate, what he will do is his business, but what was said publicly mainly. […] about the desire restore relations with Russiato contribute to the end of the Ukrainian crisis, I think it deserves attention,” he asserted.
“It wasn’t us”
Putin also commented on the possibility of restoring relations with Washington. “We are open to it, but to a large extent the ball is in the United States’ court, because we were not the ones who spoiled relations with them,” the Russian president said.
“We have not imposed restrictions or sanctions on them, we do not contribute to any armed conflict in the territories near them, we have never intended to do so and in practice we have never allowed ourselves to do so. I can’t understand why the United States allows itself to do this.. I hope they end up realizing that it is better not to do it if we don’t want world conflicts,” he said. He noted that Trump has also made similar comments. “Let’s see how it works in reality,” Putin concluded.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov declared that Putin’s congratulations to Trump on his election can be considered official. However, it is not yet known when the conversation between the two could take place, he added. In theory, the Russian leader could call Trump, but we have to see how events develop later, Peskov said.
