Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his decision concerning US President Joe Biden remains unchanged despite his low debate turnout against Donald Turmp.
Putin said that he feels Biden is preferable as the future U.S. president to Trump for Russia, even after Biden cast the Kremlin chief as a “crazy SOB”.
According to the Russian President: “Nothing has changed. Did we not know what could come? We knew.”
“I saw some fragments,” Putin said. “But I have enough to do.”
Biden, 81, put in a stumbling performance during the debate, which brought questions about his age and mental fitness to the forefront of the campaign.
Putin said that he paid little attention to partial media reports about the debate though he could not ignore it as the United States remained a great power.
Speaking on Trump, Putin said he believed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trum was sincere about wanting to end the war in Ukraine, but that he did not know how Trump planned to do so if elected.
Putin, speaking at a news conference in Kazakhstan at the end of a regional security conference, commented after being asked about Trump’s statements that he could end the Ukraine war swiftly if he won the White House race on November 5.
“The fact that Mr Trump, as a presidential candidate, declares that he is ready and wants to stop the war in Ukraine, we take this completely seriously,” Putin said.
“I am not, of course, familiar with possible proposals for how he plans to do this. This is the key question. But I have no doubt that he means it sincerely, and we support it (the idea of ending the war).”
The Washington Post reported in April that Trump had privately spoken about the option of allowing Putin to keep Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and the Donbas area – which Russian forces partially control – in return for peace, something Trump’s campaign has not confirmed.
Putin said constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington was impossible during a heated U.S. presidential election campaign and that Moscow would wait for the result and see what the new leadership does.