by President Trump’s scathing remarks on Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in recent days were a dramatic departure from the remarkably upbeat stance he has maintained with the Russian leader for years.
Mr. Trump frequently complimented Mr. Putin throughout the 2016 presidential campaign and said the two men would have a fruitful working relationship. In 2022, as Russia was getting ready to invade Ukraine, Mr. Trump praised what he saw as hard-line negotiation strategies and called Mr. Putin “agenius” for his efforts to conquer vast areas of territory.
How intelligent is that? Mr. Trump added, “This is a very savvy guy, and he’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper.” I am well familiar with him.
Trump termed the conduct of Mr. Putin’s troops, which massacred residents in a Ukrainian suburb and took Ukrainian children to Russia, “dreadful,” but emphasized that he gets along well with him. In response, Mr. Putin expressed his own gratitude, stating that he was pleased by Mr. Trump’s ongoing support for a negotiated solution that would benefit Russia.
Mr. Trump’s ire over the U.S. investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which dominated his first term, has been reflected in many of his remarks about Mr. Putin.
In February, when sitting next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, he observed, “I can tell you that Putin went through a hell of a lot with me.”
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