Former US President Donald Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, just days after the US struck a massive prisoner swap with Russia and other Western nations.
"By the way, I want to congratulate Vladimir Putin on making another great deal. Did you see the deal we made?" Trump said Saturday at a campaign rally in Atlanta.
The historic prisoner swap, the largest between the US and Russia since the Cold War, saw 16 people, including Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich, released from Russian prisons.
Trump, who has previously expressed fondness for Putin, once said the Russian leader would not release Gershkovich "for anybody else" but him.
Trump criticized the US side, and the Joe Biden administration, in the deal, asserting that Russian prisoners are some of the most dangerous.
"The US government released some of the worst killers anywhere in the world. Some of the worst killers they got in Russia. We got some American prisoners back, but we made a very bad deal," Trump said.
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