WASHINGTON, December 19. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly defines and defends the country’s national interests and justifiably says that they have some very unique features, Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in an interview with CBS News.

Kissinger, 93, the patriarch of American diplomacy and the Nobel Peace Prize winner, shared his thoughts about Putin with whom he met several times. "He is a man with a great sense of connection, an inward connection, to Russian history as he sees it," Kissinger said.

"He is a cold calculator of the Russian national interest, as he conceives it, and which he believes, probably correctly, has some very unique features," said Kissinger, who was also National Security Advisor under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Speaking on Donald Trump, Kissinger called him "a phenomenon that foreign countries haven’t seen," stressing that the President-elect presents "extraordinary opportunity." "I believe he has the possibility of going down in history as a very considerable president," he continued.

Kissinger said Trump’s instincts which he said were a "different form of analysis as my more academic one" have led to him raising issues that were of great import. "And if they’re addressed properly, could lead to good - great results," he said.