Donald Trump is getting a new endorsement this time from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Via AFP.

“He is a very outstanding man, unquestionably talented,” Putin told journalists after his annual press conference in Moscow.

“It’s not up to us to judge his virtue, that is up to US voters, but he is the absolute leader of the presidential race,” Putin added.

Putin said Russia is ready to work with the United States no matter who is elected president next year. “We are ready to work with any president chosen by the American people.”

Trump has yet to comment on the endorsement, but had previously said he thinks he’d get along well with Putin. Here are his comments from the second GOP debate on the issue.

I would talk to him. I would get along with him. I believe — and I may be wrong, in which case I’d probably have to take a different path, but I would get along with a lot of the world leaders that this country is not getting along with..,I will get along — I think — with Putin, and I will get along with others, and we will have a much more stable — stable world…I believe that I will get along — we will do — between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won’t have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations.

So now it appears Putin is at least slightly hoping for a Trump presidency too. Putin has always been cagey when it comes to U.S. Presidents, specifically Barack Obama. He told CBS in September Obama wasn’t weak, but then took a swipe at the Obama Administration a few weeks later. Via The New York Times.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia criticized the United States and others on Tuesday for what he said was their lack of cooperation with the Russian military campaign in Syria, suggesting that they had “mush for brains.”…

“Recently, we have offered the Americans: ‘Give us objects that we shouldn’t target.’ Again, no answer,” he said. “It seems to me that some of our partners have mush for brains.”

Mr. Putin, speaking at a forum for international investors, also said that Washington did not seem interested in a visit he had proposed by a high-level political and military delegation to coordinate actions in Syria. The Russian delegation would be led by the prime minister, Dmitri A. Medvedev, and include senior military and intelligence officials, he said.

Putin’s support of Trump makes a little bit of sense because he’s one of two candidates, the other being Rand Paul, who seem willing to at least talk to him. So it could be a respect thing. Trump hasn’t called Putin a “gangster,” like Marco Rubio, or threatened to ignore him, like Carly Fiorina, but has praised his leadership. Here’s what he said to Bill O’Reilly in September (via Washington Times).

“I think in terms of leadership, he’s getting an ‘A,’ and our president is not doing too well. They did not look good together,” Mr. Trump said on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” Tuesday evening.

“Putin is now taking over what we started, and he’s going into Syria, and he frankly wants to fight ISIS, and I think that’s a wonderful thing,” Mr. Trump said, referring to the Islamic State terrorist group.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to push Putin towards acting more like a fan of free markets, and less of a dictator, but I’d be a little hesitant is declaring Putin is getting an “A” in leadership. It’s important to note this is one of the first times Putin has actually directly endorsed a candidate not in Russia. UKIP leader Nigel Farage appeared on state-owned Russia Today multiple times, but claimed he only respected Putin and didn’t like him. National Front’s Marine Le Pen visited Moscow to meet with top Russian officials and got cash from a Russian bank last year. Geert Wilders has been accused of being tight with Putin, but that appears to be more rumor than true. It’s also important to note UKIP and Wilders’ Dutch Freedom Party were not involved in watching the Crimea referrendum, while other parties, including FN, were. Mitchell A. Orenstein suggested in Foreign Affairs in 2014 that Putin is cozier with the far right parties because of what it could do to the European Union.

Similarly, Russian support of the far right in Europe has less to do with ideology than with his desire to destabilize European governments, prevent EU expansion, and help bring to power European governments that are friendly to Russia. In that sense, several European countries may only be one bad election away from disaster. In fact, some would say that Hungary has already met it. As support for Jobbik increases, the anti-democratic, center-right government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has tacked heavily to the right and recently signed a major nuclear deal with Russia. Russia plans to lend Hungary ten billion euro to construct two new reactors at its Paks nuclear plant, making Hungary even more dependent for energy on Russia. Jobbik’s Vona wants to go even further, taking Hungary out of the EU and joining Russia’s proposed Eurasian Union.  

It could also be Putin just wants to make sure he has allies, who won’t alienate him. It’s no different from the U.S. deciding to support the Iraqi government, the mujahideen in Afghanistan, or the CIA’s rumored involvement in Augusto Pinocet’s coup in Chile. Powerful governments are going to try to make sure they have allies in other countries. Does it mean Putin’s endorsement of Trump will make sure “The Donald” is in the White House? That’s debatable. But those Trump fans, who are also anti-Putin should probably pause before deciding whether Putin’s backing of Trump is a good idea.