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Putin shies away from evaluating Zelensky and other world leaders

"Everyone has their own pluses and minuses," the president said

MOSCOW, December 19./TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes it would be inappropriate to give an assessment of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky or other world leaders.

"I always shy away from answering questions like these, I deem it inappropriate to answer them, or provide any evaluations of my colleagues. You may have noticed that I never evaluate even former leaders of certain countries. Let us assess historical figures. This can be done, but I don’t have the heart to do this to people currently serving their duties," the president stressed when replying to a Channel One television journalist’s request to weigh in on Zelensky.

Of course, "everyone has their own pluses and minuses," he went on to say. "But if people qualify for such posts, it means that they passed through some tough screening, so they are at least exceptional," Putin told the annual news conference.