ASTANA (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin praised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday as an experienced and intelligent politician, but said he did not believe Trump was safe after an attempt on his life.
Trump was injured in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July. In one incident in September, a man was charged with attempted murder after allegedly holding himself at gunpoint at one of Trump’s golf courses in Florida.
Speaking to journalists in Kazakhstan after the meeting, Mr. Putin said that he was shocked by the way the American election campaign was conducted.
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He said “unprofessional methods were used against Trump, up to and including assassination attempts – and more than once”.
“By the way, in my opinion, he is not safe now,” Putin said.
“Unfortunately, in the history of the United States, different events have happened. I think he (Trump) is smart and I hope he is careful and understands this.”
Putin, who has been heavily guarded, said he was even more surprised by the criticism of the Trump family and children by political opponents during the US election.
He called such behavior “rebellious” and said that in Russia there are not even “thugs” who would use such methods.
Commenting on what he described as the decision of the Biden administration to escalate the war in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to hit Russia with Western missiles, Putin speculated that it could be a strategy to help Trump by giving him something to fall back on or a way to create. his life was very difficult with Russia.
Either way, Putin said he thought Trump would “find a solution” and said Moscow was ready for negotiations.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn and Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)