Washington, Feb 15 (IANS): Russian President Vladimir Putin, under fire from US President Joe Biden and NATO allies for Ukraine invasion, shocked the world, saying "A Biden Presidency in the US is better for Russia".
"A Joe Biden presidency would be better for Russia than a Donald Trump one, Russian President Vladimir Putin told pro-Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin in an on-camera interview Wednesday, CNN reported.
Putin said Biden would be better for Russia "because he is a more experienced person, he is predictable, he is a politician of an old formation."
However, he added that Russia would "work with any leader of the US that gains the trust of the American people."
Putin also said to judge actions of the current administration in the US, one should look at its "political position".
"I believe that the position of the current administration is extremely harmful and erroneous," Putin said in a reference to Russia's war in Ukraine.
According to Putin, that war "could have been over a year and a half ago" if agreements during a meeting in Istanbul in March 2022 were kept. Putin didn't specify which agreements he was referring to.
The Russian president said he regretted that he "didn't start active actions in Ukraine earlier" than February 2022, claiming that Western leaders had lied to Russia about "not expanding NATO to the East."
"We were and are concerned about the possibility of Ukraine being drawn into NATO, since this threatens our security," Putin said.
Putin also alleged that the Minsk agreements, a ceasefire protocol signed by Ukraine and Russia in 2015, was never meant to be kept but used "to buy time to load Ukraine with additional weapons."
The Russian leader also expressed disappointment around his recent interview with far-right media figure Tucker Carlson.
"I honestly thought he would be aggressive and ask tough questions. I wasn’t only ready for that, I wanted that, because it would give me the opportunity to give tough answers back," Putin said.
"To be frank, I didn't fully enjoy that interview," he said.