Vladimir Putin said he would like to see Joe Biden re-elected for a second term, in the Russian president’s first comments on November’s US elections.
Speaking to Russian state TV, Putin said the current White House occupant was more “experienced” and “predictable” than his predecessor Donald Trump.
Asked who Russia would like to see win in the likely contest between the pair, Putin replied: “Biden, he’s more experienced. He’s predictable, he’s an old school politician.”
The Russian leader went on to dismiss concerns over the 81-year-old Mr Biden’s age and mental acuity.
“When I met Mr Biden three years ago, it’s true, people were already talking about his inabilities, but I saw nothing of the sort,” said Putin.
But there was a slight sting in the tail of his remarks as he added: “So he banged his head on the helicopter when he was getting out of it — who of us hasn’t banged their head on something?”
The White House is unlikely to welcome Putin’s intervention, which comes hot on the heels of Mr Biden’s claim that Mr Trump had “bowed down to a Russian dictator” as he appeals to Republicans in Congress to approve more funding for Ukraine.
The US president lambasted Mr Trump over his suggestion that under his leadership, Moscow could do “whatever the hell they want” to Nato members who fail to meet defence spending commitments.
Mr Trump, who has previously praised Putin as a “genius”, faced fierce criticism during his first term for what opponents claimed was an overly-cozy relationship with the Russian leader.
The Republican frontrunner has presided over a policy shift within the GOP, with Russia hawks within its ranks increasingly being confronted with a more isolationist strain of thinking.
Those differences have come to a head with Mr Biden’s request for a further $61 billion in US defence aid for Ukraine to defend itself in its grinding war with Moscow.
Legislative proposals to approve the package of funding have been stalled in Congress for months.
American conservative scepticism of arming Ukraine was given a larger platform last week, when Tucker Carlson, the influential conservative commentator, interviewed Putin.
It was Putin’s first interview with a Western media outlet since he invaded Ukraine. The interview was condemned by Kyiv’s Western backers, including Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden.
At the time, the Kremlin said they had agreed to the interview with Carlson because the former Fox News anchor differed from the “one-sided” reporting of the Ukraine conflict by many Western news outlets.
But Putin levelled his own attack against Carlson on Wednesday night, saying he was surprised by his lack of sharp questions.
“To be honest, I thought that he would behaved aggressively and ask so-called sharp questions. I was not just prepared for this, I wanted it, because it would give me the opportunity to respond in the same way,” Putin told Russian state media.
“Frankly, I did not get full satisfaction from this interview,” he added.
