JD Vance gets 'starring role' on Russian state-controlled media after gushing over Putin

Vice President JD Vance was featured prominently on the Russian state-controlled media Wednesday for his comments praising Russian President Vladimir Putin, comments that one critic argued he knew were false.

“I have talked to (Putin) on the phone a number of times; you know, it’s interesting, he’s more soft-spoken than you would necessarily expect,” Vance told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Wednesday evening.

“You know, the American media has a particular image of him; he’s soft spoken, in a certain way. He’s very deliberate. He’s very careful, and I think fundamentally he is a person who looks out for the interests, as he sees it, of Russia.”

Russia Today, an international news network funded and controlled by the Russian government, shared a clip of Vance’s interview on social media shortly following its airing, writing in a post on X how Vance described “the REAL Vladimir Putin.”

Edith Olmsted, formerly of The Daily Beast and now a writer for The New Republic, however, cried foul on Vance’s characterization of Putin, writing Thursday that the vice president knew better.

“Vice President JD Vance is so good at saying exactly what Moscow wants him to say that he’s earned a starring role in state propaganda,” Olmsted wrote in a piece published Thursday in The New Republic. “...Despite what Vance has claimed, Putin isn’t a gentle altruist – he’s a dictator who hopes to acquire Ukrainian territory by force – and Vance knows that.”

Vance has largely mirrored his boss’ rhetoric on Putin, that being a frequent hesitancy to outright condemn the Russian president’s decision to invade Ukraine. Putin is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy soon in an effort to bring about an end to the war. This follows Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy earlier this week, and his meeting with Putin last week in Alaska.

Watch the video below or use this link.