Quotes About Putin

I don't want to suggest that Trump is emulating Putin. Trump is his own creation.

Trump very much wants to be liked by Putin and I think sincerely admires him. Putin doesn't know how to deal with somebody who positions himself like that.

There's nothing effective against Trump. Trump is Trump. Trump is going to lie. Trump is going to act the way he's acting. No amount of reason, no amount of criticism, no amount of anything is going to work to change Trump's behavior. Putin is exactly the same way.

With regards to Trump's treatment of Putin and Russia, national security experts and journalists have been citing the fact pattern and saying there's something strange going on.

What Trump is not smart enough to even grasp is that the kind of popularity that Putin has can only be achieved in the context of retro-totalitarianism.

I think what we're learning with the Trump Jr. meeting is when you meet with any Russians, you're meeting with Russian intelligence. And, therefore, President Putin.

Donald Trump himself has financial ties to oligarchs in Russia who are close to Putin.

If Trump, for whatever reason, continues to coddle Russia, then Congress, the media, foundations, and academics should publicly detail the corruption that characterizes Putin's rule.

In the end, believe me, there will be no friendship between Trump and Putin.

The Intelligence Community Assessment concluded first that President Putin directed and influenced a campaign to erode the faith and confidence of the American people in our presidential election process. Second, that he did so to demean Secretary Clinton, and third, that he sought to advantage Mr. Trump.

Russia would prefer to rebuild trust rather than allow it to further corrode. That's why, in July 2007, President Putin, in the spirit of strategic openness, proposed a truly collective effort at missile defense for Europe.

I don't trust a system where Putin makes all decisions.

I think it is my big advantage that I know Putin personally... that he can trust me, that he can see in me a new generation. I want to be a person who really makes him see how many people are against the system.

We have a saying that a stranger's soul is like a black box. Which is why I would not want to analyze [Vladimir] Putin's psychological motivations.

Vladimir Putin wants to become the de facto head of an illiberal, xenophobic, hypernationalist trend in world politics.

If Putin wants to knock the hell out of ISIS, I'm all for it 100 percent and I can't understand how anybody would be against that.

I am somebody who respects Putin highly, but I'm not somebody who is against America.

I'm sure corruption in Chechnya is minimal.

In a sense, the central problem in U.S.-Russian relations has been a form of psychological projection. Putin views foreign policy as a means of enhancing Russia's - and his regime's - security, power and wealth in a zero-sum competition with other states. He assumes Americans are the same.

For Mr. Putin, vacillation invites aggression. His world is a brutish, cynical place, where power is worshiped, weakness is despised, and all rivalries are zero-sum.

I looked at Putin and was terrified from the very beginning. That makes me look very prescient because he actually turned out to be exactly the monster that I thought he was.

Putin wants to reestablish Russian greatness, not as the Cold War, but in 19th century empire terms.

I'm afraid Putin will kill me. I believe that he was the one who unleashed the war in Ukraine. I couldn't dislike him more.

George Bush looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul in the first meeting he had in Slovenia. And then in the next meeting, he realized his soul was very dark.