President Vladimir Putin has no doubt he will secure another term in Russia’s election. The vote that leaves him in suspense, and could do more to change his policies, will occur eight months later in the United States.
Putin has publicly said he prefers US President Joe Biden to his predecessor and aspiring successor Donald Trump, a remark widely interpreted to mean exactly the opposite, as the former KGB man hopes his notoriety will boost the Republican mogul.
Trump has voiced admiration for Putin, raged against NATO, the alliance founded to defend against Moscow, and boasted that he within one day would end the war in Ukraine, which Russia invaded two years ago.
Trump supporters in Congress, seizing on an unrelated dispute over migration, have held up approval of $60 billion in military aid for Ukraine, whose troops have faced the first battlefield setbacks in months as ammunition runs scarce.
Biden in his annual State of the Union address lashed out at Trump for saying he would encourage Putin to “do whatever the hell you want” if a NATO member does not spend enough.
