Why display of feelings now?

Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be impressed by Donald Trump, the front-runner Republican candidate to the White House, having heaped on him all sorts of praise and compliments.

At the end of his annual three-hour press conference in Moscow last week, Putin called Trump “bright, a very colourful character, talented and an absolute leader”.

Trump was no less complimentary of Putin, saying, during a CNN interview, that he would get along just fine with the Russian leader if he were elected to the White House.

He described Putin in flowery terms, saying that he could do business with him. When Trump was told by some journalists that Putin has an alleged record of killing journalists who oppose him, he replied that his own country kills people as well.

That answer would go well with the average US citizen when the time comes to elect the next US president.

So why this exchange of compliments between the Russian president and the US hopeful to the presidency, which shows the proverb “birds of feather flock together” true? This newly forged comrade-ship between the two men comes at a time when the other Republican contenders in the presidential race used severe language to depict Putin, with some refer-ring to him as “a thug” or even a “gangster”.

Some Republicans even went to the extent of describing Putin as the re-i n c a r nation of the late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

This description of the Russian leader is widespread among the Republican Party members, so why would Trump go out of his way to praise him at a time he is seeking their support? It is possible that Putin likes Trump because he reminds him of his mentor, president Boris Yeltsin, who helped Putin rise to power.

Yeltsin was also known to be boisterous, direct and undiplomatic in dealing with both his people and the outside world. It is also probable that Putin’s embrace of Trump to show his dislike for the Republican first contender to the race for the White House because Putin does not relish having a strong American president.

But his praise for Trump is not likely to go well with the US voters. Could it be, then, that Putin’s ultimate motive is to eliminate all chances of success for Trump by portraying him as a close friend and collaborator?