Russian President Vladimir Putin praised US President-elect Donald Trump as “intelligent” and “experienced” while speaking to reporters on Thursday.
“As far as I can imagine, the newly elected president is an intelligent and already quite experienced person,” Putin told reporters in Kazakhstan, according to CNN.
He added that he’s optimistic the Trump administration will be able to ease the fraught relationship between the U.S. and Russia.
“I think he will find a solution,” Putin said of Trump.
The Russian president also weighed in on the slew of federal and state cases against Trump, some of which were dismissed this month, calling them “humiliating, unfounded judicial procedures.”
Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/AP
Putin’s remarks came one day after Trump nominated retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg to be his special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.
“Keith has led a distinguished Military and Business career, including serving in highly sensitive National Security roles in my first Administration,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!”
Kellogg has sharply criticized the Biden administration’s approach to the Ukraine war, writing in April that the White House should have made a deal with Russian Putin in January 2022, shortly before Russia invaded, to “delay Ukraine’s admission into NATO for a decade” in exchange for Putin calling off the incursion.
Putin also had harsh words for Biden on Thursday, according to CNN, accusing the Biden administration of creating “additional difficulties” for the Trump team by permitting Ukraine to fire Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, at Russian targets.
Trump and Putin spoke over the phone after Trump won the 2024 U.S. election, and Trump warned the Russian leader against further escalating the war in Ukraine, The Washington Post reported earlier this month.
Trump also reminded Putin of “Washington’s sizeable military presence in Europe,” according to The Post’s report. He added that he wanted to have another conversation to discuss a “resolution” to the Ukraine war.
The president-elect campaigned on the pledge that he would bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end in a day.
“They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians,” Trump said during a May 2023 town hall on CNN. “I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done—I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”
Trump also spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after winning the election. Zelensky described the conversation as “excellent,” writing on X, formerly Twitter, that they “agreed to maintain close dialogue and advance our cooperation. Strong and unwavering U.S. leadership is vital for the world and for a just peace.”
