Putin says European elites will eventually be "at Trump’s feet wagging their tails"

Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised US President Donald Trump's political style, saying the recently inaugurated president will bring the European elite back in line.

In an interview broadcast on Russian state television on Sunday, Putin said Trump would restore order in US relations with the European elite, who he said preferred Trump's predecessor Joe Biden.

"I assure you: Trump with his character, with his stubbornness, he will bring order there quite quickly. And all of them, you will see - it will happen quickly, soon - they will all stand at the feet of the master and wagging their tails nicely. Everything will fall into place"

"Trump has different ideas about what is good and what is bad - including on gender policy and other issues," Putin said, while sitting in the car with pro-Kremlin television correspondent Pavel Sarubin, who is notoriously known as the president's favourite reporter.

"European elites liked Joe Biden more, and Donald Trump has different ideas about what is right and what is wrong", Putin commented.

"Under Biden, Europe was happy to do everything that Washington ordered.

Politicians in Europe fought with Trump, interfered in the US election process and got confused after his victory".

"European leaders of the past had the courage to fight for their own opinion, today there are no such people", Putin believes.

"European elites who ban alternative political ideas are "political petty". From the point of view of European interests, this is a disaster," the Russian president also commented.

Putin said the European elite of today always ends up doing what the United States wants. He praised former German chancellors Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schröder, who he said had stood up for their own opinions.

The Russian president never praised Biden. However, he congratulated Trump on his election victory and then his inauguration in January, and emphasized his strength as a politician.

Trump has repeatedly said he will speak to Putin soon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Putin has said that he is ready to resume contact, but a date for the talks has not yet been announced.