Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday described US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump as a talented and outstanding man, welcoming his stance on Russia.
“He is a very outstanding man, unquestionably talented,” Putin told journalists after his annual press conference in Moscow.
“It’s not up to us to judge his virtue, that is up to US voters, but he is the absolute leader of the presidential race,” Putin added.
Putin said Russia is ready to work with the United States no matter who is elected president next year.
“He’s the absolute leader in the presidential race,” Putin said Thursday, in remarks first reported by the Interfax news service. “He’s said that he wants to move to a new level of ties, closer and deeper ties with Russia. How couldn’t we welcome that? Of course we welcome it.”
“We are ready to work with any president chosen by the American people.”
Trump, a tycoon and one-time reality television star who has unexpectedly become leader of the Republican presidential candidates’ race, has been gaining both fans and enemies recently for his inflammatory remarks against Muslims.
He has vowed to ban all Muslims from entering the United States if he succeeds in his bid to become the next US president.
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday called Trump’s comments “divisive, stupid and wrong.”
Putin said that Trump’s comments to his domestic audience while on the campaign trail were not Russia’s concern, but added that he likes the Republican hopeful’s statements on Russia.
“On domestic politics, his manner of speaking, what he employs to raise his popularity” - that is none of Russia’s business, Putin said.
Putin dodged a question about the abusive language and combative ploys that Trump uses to stay atop the polls, saying “It’s not our concern to evaluate his work.”
Putin, 63, a former Soviet KGB officer, has ruled Russia as either president or prime minister for 16 years. He has not yet said whether he intends to stand for a fourth presidential term in 2018. If he did, he could remain in power until 2024.
He used the news conference, a set-piece of Russian political life, to try to reassure voters over the troubled state of Russia’s economy.
Buffeted by Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis, falling oil prices, and a weakening rouble, Russia’s economy is forecast to shrink by around 4 per cent this year, its sharpest contraction since the global financial crisis.
The crisis has hit ordinary Russians hard, cutting real incomes, pushing up prices of day-to-day products, and halving their buying power in the West. With a ban on direct flights to Egypt and Kremlin sanctions on Turkey, two of their favourite holiday destinations have also been pushed further out of their reach.
“The Russian economy has passed the crisis. At least, the peak of the crisis,” said Putin.
Despite the economic pain, polls show Putin’s ratings, which were boosted by his decision to annex Ukraine’s Crimea last year and to launch air strikes in Syria, remain at around 85 per cent, not far off their record highs of almost 90 percent in October.
Answering a question about Ukraine -- with which relations remained strained over a smouldering conflict in eastern Ukraine and Crimea -- Putin appeared to confirm the presence of Russian special forces in east Ukraine for the first time.
“We never said there were no people there who were carrying out certain tasks including in the military sphere,” said Putin.
“But that does not mean there are Russian (regular) troops there, feel the difference,” he added, saying he now wanted better ties with Kiev overall.
That Russian forces were present in eastern Ukraine will come as little surprise; Reuters reporters have uncovered widespread evidence of their presence. But Putin’s words went further than previous statements, in which Russian officials issued blanket denials that Russian soldiers were there.
Putin, who spoke for just over three hours, seemed less relaxed than usual and frequently glanced at a wristwatch he had laid out in front of him.
Putin, who is notoriously protective of his family’s privacy, also made a rare reference to his two daughters on Thursday, saying they lived in Russia and stayed clear of business and politics.
But he avoided saying where they worked.
“They are taking the first steps in their careers, but are making good progress. They are not involved in business or politics,” Putin said of his daughters, Maria and Katerina.
“They have never been ‘star’ children, they have never got pleasure from the spotlight being directed on them. They just live their own lives,” he told an annual news conference.
“They live in Russia ... They have never been educated anywhere except Russia. I am proud of them, they continue to study and are working. My daughters speak three European languages fluently.” He cited security concerns for not giving any further details about them.
Reuters reported last month, citing multiple sources who know her, that Katerina was working in a senior post at Moscow State University and that she had described herself as the spouse of Kirill Shamalov, a shareholder in petrochemicals company Sibur.
Katerina uses the surname Tikhonova, derived from the name of her grandmother, according to the Reuters report.
It also found that a number of firms and individuals close to the Kremlin were providing support to the project Putin’s daughter oversees at the university, and to the All-Russian Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll Federation, in which she is involved.
