In an interview on Channel 1 this week, a clearly reticent reporter first apologized for his question and then cautiously asked Putin about claims that Trump is his "puppy."
"What can you say?" replied the Russian leader. "This is a manifestation of the level of [U.S.] political culture — or lack thereof."
But in that same interview, Putin offered some hints about whom he might like to see in the White House after the Nov. 3 vote: "The intentions that President Trump spoke about earlier have not been fully realized," he said.
"Decisions on imposing new sanctions or expanding previous ones were made 46 times," Putin said of Trump's record on Russia.
Instead, he suggested he might be closer to Biden ideologically, as both men share values such as "equality and brotherhood."
"Candidate Biden has said openly that he was ready to extend the New START [Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty] or to sign a new strategic offensive reductions treaty. This is a very serious element of our potential collaboration in the future," Putin said.
Andrey Kortunov, the political scientist, said Putin has already outlasted four U.S. presidents, so this kind of pre-election posturing is predictable but not insignificant.
"The message is: I wanted to be nice to Trump. He did his best. He failed because of the political turmoil in the U.S., but we are ready to work with Joe Biden."