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Vladimir Putin has revealed he has just one “regret” over the war in Ukraine which he initiated almost two years ago.
Speaking to a correspondent on Russian state TV, Pavel Zarubin, the president said he wished the conflict – which he has admitted himself is going on for far longer than he expected – had actually started sooner.
“The only thing we can regret is that we did not start our active actions earlier, believing that we were dealing with decent people,” he said, according to a translation on Associated Press, on Thursday, taking aim at Kyiv.
The war has actually left Russia quite isolated on the international stage, its resources have been drained, its forces depleted and its economy is struggling.
Research from the think tank RUSI also claimed Putin expected to take control of Ukraine in just 10 days when he started the war, expecting it to be quick rather than the two-year battle it is has become.
Putin then alleged that while Russia was – and still is – “concerned” about Ukraine “being dragged into Nato” because of the supposed threat it would pose to Moscow’s security, that was not the reason for the invasion.
He instead blamed Ukraine for supposedly violating the Minsk peace agreements – a treaty Putin actually violated after recognising the independence of two separatist regions in Ukraine.
In a further twist, the Russian president said he would prefer Joe Biden to win the next US presidential election.
Putin said: “He is more experienced and more predictable. He is an ‘old school’ politician. But we will work with any US leader, elected by the people of America.”
His words were pretty surprising, considering Donald Trump has been much more sympathetic to Putin than Biden.
Trump even said he would “encourage” Russia to do “whatever it wants” to Nato member states who did not meet their spending commitments on defence.
The Russian president then created further confusion, saying: “I think that the incumbent [Biden] administration’s approach is most harmful and erroneous.”
Interestingly, Trump was quick to respond to Putin’s preference by calling it a “great compliment”.
“He doesn’t want to have me. He wants Biden because he’s going to be given everything he wants, including Ukraine,” Trump claimed.
He alleged: “The only president in the last five that hasn’t given Russia anything is a president known as Donald J Trump.”
Putin also used the opportunity to criticise US commentator Tucker Carlson, said he was not “fully satisfied” with their highly-publicised exchange.
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