Russian analyst thanks Trump for upending US plan to oust Putin [Video]

• Political scientist Dmitry Kulikov said that U.S. President Joe Biden has been part of a decade-long plan to oust Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• He said that former President Donald Trump upended this anti-Putin policy.
• Kulikov thanked Trump for four years of partnership with Moscow.

Political analyst Dmitry Kulikov thanked former U.S. President Donald Trump on Russian state TV for reportedly upending a decade-long plan to oust President Vladimir Putin from the Kremlin.

Appearing on Russia’s state-run Russia-1, Kulikov said that President Joe Biden had been part of this plan to remove Putin.

Kulikov stated in Russian, “I am certain that a decision to destroy us was reached in 2012 by the same group to which Joe Biden belongs. When he told Putin he has no right to run for reelection, and Putin rejected his demand, from that point on, everything was decided.”

He continued, “And it would have worked if not for Trump. Trump gave us those four years. Thank you very much.” He referred to Trump’s rule, which spanned from January 2017 to January 2021, as a “malfunction” in the plan to oust Putin.

Kulikov mentioned 2012, but he may have been referring to Biden’s remarks in 2011.

According to then-opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who wrote The Moscow Times report on March 10, 2011, Biden had told Russian political opposition candidates that Putin seeking reelection “would be bad for the country and for himself.”

Kremlin-linked Right Cause party co-leader Leonid Gozman confirmed Biden’s remarks at the time. He added that Biden had said he “looked into Putin’s eyes and saw no soul.”

Biden later confirmed in 2014 to The New Yorker magazine that he made the remarks to Putin himself: “I said, ‘Mr. Prime Minister, I’m looking into your eyes, and I don’t think you have a soul.’ He looked back at me, and he smiled, and he said, ‘We understand one another.’”

Putin served as president from 2000 to 2008, then as prime minister from 2008 to 2012. He returned to the presidency on May 7, 2012.

All throughout Trump’s presidential campaign and time in office, he repeatedly spoke favorably of Putin. He and his allies were also investigated over possible collusion with Russia during the election, but no corroborating evidence emerged.

Shortly before Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24, Trump called Putin’s plan “genius” and “smart.” Trump later criticized Putin’s actions when the invasion became a full-scale war, but his former remarks spurred pro-Russia rhetoric among his supporters. Russian state TV has been using pro-Putin comments from right-wing Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as propaganda.

Meanwhile, Biden has criticized Putin multiple times, calling him a “war criminal” and accusing Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine. Still, he clarified that there is no U.S. policy that plans to oust the Russian president.

Another Russian state TV host, Evgeny Popov, called for Biden’s removal from office in late March. He then advocated for Trump, who he said was Moscow’s “partner.”

Source: Newsweek