Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised US President-elect Donald Trump as an “intelligent and experienced” politician capable of finding “solutions,” as tensions between Moscow and the West ramp up over the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan, Putin castigated President Joe Biden for creating “additional difficulties” for the incoming Trump administration, after Biden gave Ukraine permission to fire longer-range American missiles, called ATACMS, at targets deep inside Russia.
The Russian president also threatened to strike Ukraine again with a nuclear-capable ballistic missile, called “Oreshnik,” following Moscow’s widespread overnight attack Wednesday targeting critical energy infrastructure facilities.
Asked whether Biden’s decision would impact future relations between Moscow and Washington, Putin suggested things could improve after Trump takes office in January.
“As far as I can imagine, the newly elected president is an intelligent and already quite experienced person. I think he will find a solution,” Putin said.
Putin’s congenial tone is in marked contrast with the Kremlin’s threats against the outgoing Biden administration, which Putin accused of “escalating” the war in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to fire ATACMS at military targets in Russia.
Trump has pledged to end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours,” without saying how. During the election campaign, he repeatedly refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war.
Putin’s comments come after Trump on Wednesday nominated Gen. Keith Kellogg to be special envoy to the warring countries. “Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” Trump wrote on social media, announcing his pick.
Speaking from the sidelines of a security summit in the Kazakh capital Astana, Putin said Trump had overcome a “serious test” to return to the White House, referring to the two assassination attempts against him during the election campaign.
Trump was wounded in the first attempt in Pennsylvania in July. In a separate incident in September, a man was charged with attempted assassination after camping out at one of Trump’s Florida golf courses while armed with a rifle.
Putin said “absolutely uncivilized means of struggle were used against Trump” more than once, adding that he fears the president-elect is not currently safe.
He also criticized the “humiliating, unfounded judicial procedures” to which Trump was “subjected” during the campaign. In June, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush money criminal trial, making him the first former US president to be convicted of a felony.
Discussing the war in Ukraine, Putin also threatened more launches of Russia’s new medium-range ballistic missile which was used to attack Ukraine’s Dnipro region last week. The new missile, called Oreshnik, fires multiple warheads at once, and is capable of delivering a nuclear payload.
“We will use the means at our disposal,” he warned. “We do not exclude the use of Oreshnik against the (Ukrainian) military, against military industrial facilities, or against decision-making centers, including in Kyiv, bearing in mind that the Kyiv authorities today continue to attempt to strike our vital facilities.”
Asked to clarify if the “decision-making centers” the Kremlin warned it might hit are military or political, Putin replied: “You know, in Soviet times there was a joke about weather forecasts? Here’s the forecast: today, during the day, anything is possible.”