Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is defending Russian President Vladimir Putin after President Biden called him a killer.
Asked by George Stephanopoulos in an interview on Wednesday, if he believes Putin is a “killer” President Biden responded, “Mhmm. I do.”
Erdoğan defended Putin and called Biden’s comments “unacceptable”.
“Mr. Biden’s statements about Mr. Putin are not fitting of a president, and a president coming out and using such remarks against the president of a country like Russia is truly unacceptable, not something that can be stomached,” Erdoğan told reporters in Istanbul in Friday, Reuters reports. “In my opinion, Mr. Putin has done what is necessary by giving a very, very smart and elegant answer,” he added.
Putin himself responded to Biden’s comments on Thursday saying, “I would say to him: I wish you good health,” Putin said.
“Although they think we are the same as them, we are different people, we have a different genetic and cultural-moral code,” Putin added. “But we know how to defend our own interests, and we will work with them but in those areas in which we are interested and on terms we consider favorable for us. And they will have to reckon with that.”
