Vladimir Putin just had the strangest response to an insult from US president Joe Biden – and even appeared to take it quite well.
After Biden called him a “crazy SOB” – short for “son of a bitch” – Putin just said it was an “adequate” reaction.
In fact, he even tried to put himself in Biden’s shoes to explain away the criticism.
Speaking to Russian state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin on Thursday, he said: “You and I recently talked about this and you asked me who we would prefer as the next US president.
“I said that we would work with any president but I thought that Biden was more preferable for Russia.”
Earlier this month, Putin had described Biden as “more experienced, he’s predictable, he’s an old-style politician” over Donald Trump, who is widely expected to run against the incumbent president at the next election.
Putin also defended Biden’s ability to do the job amid criticism over the president’s age.
Putin said: “When I met Biden in Switzerland – true, it was a few years ago – some people were already saying that he was unable to function. I didn’t see anything of the kind.”
On Thursday, after Biden insulted him, Putin just said the US president had proven him right.
“Judging by what he has just said, I’m absolutely right because it’s an appropriate reaction to my remark,” Putin said.
The Russian leader claimed Biden could hardly say, “Good job, Volodya, thanks for helping me out.”
He added: “We understand what is going on there in terms of the domestic policy and it’s a completely appropriate reaction, which means that I was right.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was less understanding than his boss, though.
In response to Biden, he said: “Has Mr Putin ever used one crude word to address you? This has never happened. Therefore, I think that such vocabulary debases America itself.”
He said Biden was trying to sound like a “Hollywood cowboy,” adding: “This is a disgrace for the country itself, I mean the United States.”
But bizarrely, Trump, widely expected to be much more pro-Moscow than Biden if he is re-elected, did not seem too put out by the Russian president’s preference for the next White House occupant, either.
He said Putin had “given me a great compliment, actually,” because Trump stopped Nord Stream 2 “so Putin is not a fan of mine”.
Trump also claimed: “He’s gonna have his dream of getting Ukraine because of Biden [..] The only president in the last five that hasn’t given Russia anything is a president known as Donald J. Trump.”
Meanwhile, Biden has offered up no such compliments for Putin.
He has previously labelled him as a “murderous dictator,” a “pure thug” with a “craven lust for land and power”.
When discussing the effects of climate change earlier this week, Biden said: “We have a crazy SOB like that guy Putin and others and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict, but the existential threat to humanity is climate.”