Donald Trump should not be flattered by praise from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday, noting Putin’s oppression of journalists and political foes.
Rubio, a Florida Republican, told CBS’s John Dickerson that Putin is no great leader, citing examples such as the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner by Russian-backed separtists in Ukraine and his annexation of Chechnya.
“He shouldn’t be [honored],” Rubio said. “[H]e’s jailed and murdered journalists, political opponents. He bombed an apartment building as a pretext to attack the Chechens. He is responsible for the downing of the Malaysian airliner over Ukraine, because he provided the anti-aircraft weaponry that was used for that. So this is a person who has done some horrifying things on the global stage.”
“From a geopolitical, realistic level, we have to deal with him because he’s the leader of an important country that, between them and us, control over 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons. But he is not someone who is going to go down in history as a great leader.”
Last week, Putin said the real estate mogul is a “bright and talented person,” and an “absolute leader.” Trump welcomed the praise, calling them “a good thing.”
Trump has also faced fire for his response in a Friday interview to allegations that Putin and the Kremlin have killed journalists they considered political enemies. Trump told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Sunday that he hasn’t “seen any evidence” that the Russian president killed anybody.
Rubio has been a vocal critic of Putin. Rubio has called Putin a “gangster” on the campaign trail. The Florida senator currently sits third in the Washington Examiner‘s latest batch of power rankings.
