Russian President Vladimir Putin—already an experienced flatterer of US President-elect Donald Trump—praised the Republican in public remarks on Thursday and said he was “ready” to talk with him. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Valdai Club in Sochi, Putin congratulated Trump on this week’s electoral win and said he was “impressed” by Trump’s “manly” response to a July assassination attempt.
“He turned out to be a courageous man,” Putin said, in remarks translated by Politico. “He showed himself, in my opinion, in a very correct way: courageous, manly.”
The two leaders have not spoken since the election, Putin said, and Russia initially (and conspicuously) did not congratulate the president-elect on his win. But the two certainly appear to be on speaking terms, to the immense alarm of many analysts. Trump held as many as seven undisclosed phone calls with Putin after the end of his first term, according to a new book by Bob Woodward. The two appeared “so close” to Dan Coats, the former director of national intelligence under Trump, that Coats feared Putin may actually have blackmailed Trump, Woodward said during a Thursday CNN appearance. Trump himself has not confirmed or denied the conversations, but said it would have been a “smart thing” if he had maintained a dialogue with Putin.
Both men have fawned over the other in public, despite the geopolitical realities of their two nations. Putin once called Trump “very colorful” and “talented.” Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly praised Putin’s intelligence and has been known to side with the Russian dictator over his own intelligence officials. On the campaign trail, Trump also threatened to reduce US financial and military aid to Ukraine, a US ally against Russia. Given that position, it’s not exactly surprising that several members of Russia’s political elite have publicly cheered Trump’s win, which they see both as an opening for a favorable end to the war in Ukraine and an opportunity to weaken the West. “We have won,” the influential Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin wrote Wednesday on X. “That is decisive.”
In his remarks, Putin signaled his “readiness” to begin talks with Trump again—even before his inauguration. “Putin manipulates,” Woodward said. “He’s professionally trained to do that … It’s what he did when Trump was in office previously, and he’s planning again.”
