Vladimir Putin, speaking to NBC News ahead of a meeting with President Joe Biden, called former President Donald Trump an “extraordinary individual, talented individual,” while also labeling him “colorful.” Putin said, “Well even now, I believe that former U.S. president Mr. Trump is an extraordinary individual, talented individual, otherwise he would not have become U.S. President. He is a colorful individual. You may like him or not.” Trump and Putin met only once, attending a summit in Helsinki in 2018 where Trump sided with Putin over the U.S. intelligence community in a debate about Russia’s interference in the U.S. election. Biden, Putin told NBC, “is radically different from Trump because President Biden is a career man. He has spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics.” Putin said Biden would not be prone to “impulse-based movements.”
