US President Donald Trump (L) chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin as they attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on November 11, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / SPUTNIK / Mikhail KLIMENTYEV (Photo credit should read MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images) U.S. President Donald Trump is "a talented person" who "knows very well what his voters expect from him,” according to Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with the FT, the Russian president referred to Trump as “Donald” several times and said: “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.”
Putin also rejected accusations of Russian interference in the U.S. election, saying: “Russia has been accused, and, strange as it may seem, it is still being accused ... of alleged interference in the U.S. election. What happened in reality? Mr. Trump looked into his opponents’ attitude to him and saw changes in American society, and he took advantage of this.”
In the interview, which was published Thursday evening and took place in the Kremlin's cabinet office, Putin said it was time to move on from the Salisbury poisoning scandal that soured Moscow's relations with the U.K.
“Listen, all this fuss about spies and counterspies, it is not worth serious interstate relations. This spy story, as we say, it is not worth five kopecks,” he said.