President Vladimir Putin was both cordial and coarse in his year-end news conference Thursday, saying the U.S. and Russia have narrowed their differences on Syria and share the same view of how to settle the conflict.
He reserved his crudest language for Turkey, suggesting that some leaders of the NATO ally may have wanted to “lick the Americans in some of their private parts” by shooting down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border. That miscalculation by Turkey was now hurting its own interests, Putin said at his marathon meeting with Russian and foreign journalists.
The Russian leader even gave a shoutout to Donald Trump, calling the Republican presidential candidate a “very bright and talented man.”
Speaking with emphasis and gesturing energetically throughout a news conference that lasted more than three hours and was televised live, Putin also vowed that the killing of a Russian opposition leader, gunned down near the Kremlin in February, will be solved and no one will be immune from prosecution.
Putin said the Russian air campaign in Syria, which began Sept. 30, will continue until a political process begins, adding that Moscow would back the latest U.S. proposals for a peace process in the civil war.
Commenting on relations with Washington, Putin said Russia backs a U.S.-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution on settling the crisis. The plan was presented by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during his visit to Moscow earlier this week.
He added that while the Syrian government “may not like some of it, … concessions must be made by both sides” to end the conflict that has killed more than 250,000 since 2011.
The Russian plan for settling the conflict “strangely as it may seem, coincides with the U.S. vision in its key aspects: joint work on a constitution, creation of instruments of control over future early elections, holding the vote and recognizing its results on the basis of that political process,” Putin said.
“We will help settle this crisis in every possible way, and we will try to find solutions acceptable for all parties,” he said. At the same time, he reaffirmed Russia’s stance on the key issue dividing Russia and the West, the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying the Syrians themselves must determine who rules them.
As he was leaving the hall, Putin was asked about Trump.
Putin assessed Trump as “the absolute leader in the American presidential race,” suggesting his comments could be an early attempt to curry favor with a man he may have to deal with.
Does Putin think Trump is intelligent?
On that count, the Russian word he used not only means “bright” in terms of intelligence, but also “vivid” and even “gaudy.”
“It’s not our affair to determine his worthiness. That’s a matter for the American voters,” Putin said.
He also hedged on Trump’s penchant for blunt language that provokes both devotion and revulsion.
“His turn of phrase, which he uses to raise his popularity,” is a domestic U.S. political matter, Putin said.
In a statement, Trump responded, “It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond.”
