TRUMPED: Did Vladimir Putin Just Endorse This Guy?

“Even when we say, “yes, we agree”, they strike us in the side or in the back for absolutely incomprehensible reasons”, Putin told the press conference, attended by about 1 400 journalists and televised nationwide.

Putin said: “He is saying that he wants to move to a different level of relations with Russian Federation, to a closer, deeper one”. How couldn’t we welcome that? “Of course we welcome it”, Putin told reporters, according to a translation by the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper.

In addition to the obvious charms of provoking the United States, where Trump leads among the GOP but is widely reviled by the general public, Putin may have been reciprocating after similarly glowing comments from Trump.

Putin said Russian Federation would work with “whomever America chooses”, but gave special attention to the American real estate magnate and television personality.

President Vladimir Putin insisted today that Russian forces in Syria are providing air support to some of the opposition groups fighting ISIS, as global powers prepare for a new round of peace talks.

The Russian leader said he wants to settle as soon as possible the separatist conflict in Ukraine, which led to the USA and European Union sanctions that have helped push Russia’s economy into recession.

Trump’s comments come in stark contrast to those of his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls.

“Russia’s plans for settling Syrian crisis coincide on key issues with the US ones”, Putin said.

Putin didn’t address any of Trump’s specific policies, including his ban on Muslims, saying, “It’s not our concern to evaluate his work”.

“On domestic politics, his manner of speaking, what he employs to raise his popularity” – that is none of Russia’s business, Putin said. “Mr. Putin, a hockey-playing judo expert who can be found riding horses shirtless, projects a similar image in his own way”. “But Russia is not such a country”, he said on Thursday. “I would talk to him, I would get along with him”.

After a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian bomber along the Syrian border on November 24, Putin said he was stunned that Ankara, instead of contacting Moscow to explain its actions, turned immediately to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, of which Turkey is a member.

Putin rejected the idea that Russia pressured FIFA, soccer’s governing body, to grant Russia the World Cup in 2018, and he defended his ally, Sepp Blatter, the embattled head of the organization who has been suspended by FIFA’s ethics panel over a corruption scandal.

He acknowledged there were Russians in Ukraine, but denied they were military personnel.

Donald Trump has repeatedly mentioned that he jointly appeared on 60 Minutes this fall with the Russian leader and said that the pair are “stablemates”.