Putin blasts Trump charges as political ‘persecution’

Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted the criminal charges leveled against Donald Trump — saying it puts the “rottenness of the American political system” on full display.

Speaking at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Tuesday, Putin said the US now can no longer “claim to teach others about democracy.”

“What’s happening with Trump is a persecution of a political rival for political motives,” Putin, who has ruled Russia for roughly two decades, seethed.

Putin’s strong words echo Trump’s own sentiment, with the ex-commander-in-chief repeatedly and vociferously denying wrongdoing across the board and accusing prosecutors of mounting a “witch hunt” against him intended to tip the scales in the 2024 election.

Putin’s disparagement also comes almost three weeks after former Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash — which even the Kremlin admitted could have been “deliberate.”

Nearly two months before the private jet went down in a fireball on August 23, Prigozhin staged a march on Moscow, bringing his mercenary forces within roughly 124 miles of Russia’s capital.

The mercenary leader, Putin’s former chef, hinted at plans to overthrow Russia’s Ministry of Defense amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin denied being responsible for Prigozhin’s death but later acknowledged that the rogue warlord might have been assassinated.

“It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including the version — you know what we are talking about — let’s say, a deliberate wrongdoing,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters a week after the crash.

Meanwhile, Putin recently skipped the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, India, that spanned from Sept. 7 to 10 amid international outrage over the brutal onslaught in Ukraine.

Putin has a history of defending Trump in the public square and has vehemently denied accusations that the Russian meddled in the 2016 presidential election to buoy the real estate mogul.

However, a GOP-led Senate committee concluded in 2018 that Russia did meddle in the 2016 presidential election to boost Trump, backing the findings of the US intelligence community.

During Trump’s presidency, he endured hefty criticism for being too cozy with the Russian leader — but still enacted harsh sanctions against the Kremlin and greenlit lethal military aid to Ukraine nonetheless.

Trump is facing four separate indictments — all while he runs for the top office again.

He is facing a total of 91 charges across the four criminal cases — and up to 712 years and six months behind bars if convicted of all of them.

The 77-year-old former president has pleaded not guilty in all four pending cases and has been gearing up for a protracted court fight.