Putin Prefers Biden To win US Election Over Trump

Vladimir Putin has said Joe Biden would be a better US president for Russia than Donald Trump and dismissed concerns over his counterpart’s age and acuity for the role.

Asked in a state television interview to choose between Biden and Trump, Putin said the US leader was “more experienced, predictable, an old-school politician”, adding that Russia would “work with any US leader who wins the trust of the American people”.

The Russian president’s comments came a day after Biden accused Trump of having “bowed down to a Russian dictator” as he urged Republicans in Congress to defy Trump and back more funding for Ukraine.

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Putin suggested on Wednesday that concerns over Biden’s age and mental acuity were part of the US election campaign “getting more and more vicious” and said he had seen no evidence his counterpart was not fit for office.

The former US president, who is all but certain to challenge Biden as the Republican nominee in November, said last week he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to Nato countries that did not meet defence spending targets.

“There is probably some logic in his point of view” to conditioning US support for Nato allies on meeting the alliance’s target, currently at 2 per cent of gross domestic product, Putin said. “There is no logic from the Europeans’ point of view — they want the US to keep carrying out some functions for free, as they have done since Nato was founded.”

“If the US think they don’t need [Nato] anymore, then that’s their decision,” Putin added, saying that Trump “had his own views on how US relations with their allies should develop”.