President Obama is lashing out at Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he is running Russia’s “economy into the ground” and struggling “just to barely hold together” his “sole ally.”
In an interview with CBS’ Steve Kroft aired on Sunday, President Obama disputed notions that Putin was challenging his leadership.
“[Putin] has moved troops into Syria. He’s got people on the ground,” Kroft said in the interview, adding, “the Russians are conducting military operations in the Middle East for the first time since World War II, bombing the people that we are supporting.”
Obama disputed that was leadership on Putin’s part, responding, “So that’s leading, Steve?”
“Let me ask you this question. When I came into office, Ukraine was governed by a corrupt ruler who was a stooge of Mr. Putin. Syria was Russia’s only ally in the region. And today, rather than being able to count on their support, and maintain the base they had in Syria, which they’ve had for a long time, Mr. Putin now is devoting his own troops, his own military, just to barely hold together, by a thread, his sole ally,” Obama said.
“Steve, I got to tell you, if you think that running your economy into the ground, and having to send troops in in order to prop up your only ally, is leadership, then we’ve got a different definition of leadership,” he concluded.
As Russia has stepped up its activity in the Middle East, critics have said it accentuates a contrast of the leadership differences between Putin and Obama. While Obama hasn’t hesitated to criticize Putin, Putin has been more generous in his comments about Obama.
Asked in a September interview on “60 Minutes” whether he thought Obama was weak, Putin replied, “I don’t think so at all. … I don’t think that’s the case and I don’t intend to get involved in a domestic American skirmish.”
