LONDON, June 27. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he doesn’t accept may of his US counterpart, Donald Trump’s, methods but nevertheless thinks he is a talented person.
"Mr. Trump is not a career politician…..I do not accept many of his methods when it comes to addressing problems. But do you know what I think? I think that he is a talented person. He knows very well what his voters expect from him," he said in an interview with The Financial Times.
In his opinion, Trump defeated his presidential election rivals in 2016 because he felt subtle changes in the society and not because of Russia’s alleged help.
"Russia has been accused and is still being accused of this mythical meddling in the American election but what really happened is, unlike his opponents President Trump felt very subtly those changes in American society, and he managed to use them to his advantage," Putin said in a Financial Times interview published on Thursday.
Putin explained that during the past years in the United States, leading US companies, their managers, shareholders and partners - made use of globalization benefits.
"The middle class in the United States has not benefited from globalisation; it was left out when this pie was divided up," the Russian president continued. "The Trump team sensed this very keenly and clearly, and they used this in the election campaign. It is where you should look for reasons behind Trump’s victory, rather than in any alleged foreign interference."
Putin went on to say that although he does not agree to some of Trump’s methods, he still views him as a talented person.
"Mr Trump is not a career politician. He has a distinct world outlook and vision of US national interests. I do not accept many of his methods when it comes to addressing problems. But do you know what I think? I think that he is a talented person. He knows very well what his voters expect from him," Putin said.
He added that Trump’s keen sense of moods in the country "may explain his seemingly extravagant economic decisions and even his relations with his partners and allies."
"He believes that the distribution of resources and benefits of globalisation in the past decade was unfair to the United States," Putin said. "I am not going to discuss whether it was fair or not, and I will not say if what he is doing is right or wrong. I would like to understand his motives, which is what you asked me about.".