United States: US presidential candidate Donald Trump has responded to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement, calling it a “great compliment.” Putin recently stated in an interview that, he prefers President Joe Biden over Trump because Biden is “more experienced” and “more predictable.”
At a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, Trump has said that, “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.”
The former President also responded to them who reacted to Putin’s comments that, “Now that’s a compliment. A lot of people said, ‘Oh, gee, that’s too bad.’ No, no, that’s a good thing. And of course, he would say that.”
President Trump made a recent controversial comment at a rally in South Carolina where he stated that he would “encourage” Russia to take any action they wish against foreign allies of the United States who do not contribute their “fair share” of defence funding. This statement was met with criticism from some of his critics.
Trump has claimed that it is likely that the Russian leader would prefer Joe Biden to win the US presidential election. The former President believes that Putin may prefer Biden because, during his time as President, he put a stop to some Russian interests, including the construction of Nord Stream 2, which was a controversial pipeline that would have transported natural gas from Russia to Europe.
“I stopped Nord Stream 2, and Biden approved it right after I left, so Putin is not a fan of mine actually,” Trump has stated that, as the president, he halted the construction of the pipeline by imposing sanctions on it. Critics believe that Biden’s subsequent waiver of sanctions on the pipeline would give Russia energy supremacy over Europe.
“He doesn’t want to have me. He wants Biden because he’s going to be given everything he wants, including Ukraine. He’s gonna have his dream of getting Ukraine because of Biden. The only president in the last five that hasn’t given Russia anything is a president known as Donald J. Trump,” Trump commented by citing the relationship between Putin and Biden.
During the campaign, Trump constantly said he had a good relationship with Putin, calling him “smart” and saying that if he had been re-elected, the current Ukraine-Russia war would not have happened.