President Vladimir Putin has described the recent indictments of Donald Trump as “political persecution” as the Russian leader waded back into a US presidential campaign for the third consecutive election cycle.
Putin made the remarks during an economic forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, where he is also due to hold meetings with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, this week.
“Everything happening to Trump is political persecution of a political rival. That’s what it is. And this is happening before the eyes of the United States public and entire world,” Putin said during a question-and-answer session.
“As for the persecution of Trump, I believe that everything happening at the moment is good. Because it demonstrates the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.”
Putin’s words align with those of supporters of the former US president, who has been accused of inciting the crowds that rioted at the Capitol in January 2021 after Trump’s defeat to Joe Biden.
Trump was indicted last month for inciting public officials to violate their oaths of office and filing false documents as he promoted claims that the election had been stolen through ballot box manipulation.
Putin said Trump’s offers to negotiate with Russia over its war in Ukraine had “pleased him”, but said he thought that US policy toward Russia would not change, regardless of whether Trump becomes president in 2024.
“Even though they accused him of having a special relationship with Russia, which is complete nonsense, he imposed sanctions on Russia more than anyone else while he was president,” Putin said. “Therefore, it is difficult to say what to expect from the future president, no matter who the president is, but it is unlikely that anything will change radically.”
US intelligence officials have accused Putin of personally authorising influence operations against Democratic candidates in support of Trump in both the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Putin ally who also managed online influence operations, admitted in November that he had interfered in the US elections. “Gentlemen, we interfered, we are interfering and we will interfere,” he said in the run-up to the US midterms. Prigozhin was killed last month when his private jet crashed en route from Moscow to St Petersburg.
On Tuesday, Putin also accused the British intelligence services of training Ukrainian forces to launch attacks on Russian nuclear infrastructure, citing an unspecified attackinvolving powerlines that could result in an emergency shutdown of a major power plant, he said.
“The saboteurs said during interrogation they had been trained under the supervision of British instructors,” he said, offering no evidence to back up the claim. “Do they realise what they are playing at? Are they provoking us to take some kind of retaliatory action against Ukrainian nuclear power plants?”
“I know that my words will make them howl again about threats, nuclear blackmail and so on,” Putin said. “Rest assured that what I have just said is the complete, absolute and pure truth. We have the guys in custody and they are testifying. I know about a possible reaction: they will tell you whatever you want at gunpoint. No, that’s not so. The administration of British security services knows that I am telling the truth.”
