'He's soft spoken': JD Vance paints a picture of Putin different from 'image of him' in American media

WASHINGTON, DC: Vice President JD Vance isn’t exactly painting Vladimir Putin as the ruthless villain most Americans picture. Instead, he went on Fox News’ 'The Ingraham Angle' this week and gave the Russian leader a surprisingly mellow review.

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

Vance added that Putin has a special level of respect for Donald Trump. “He knows the president looks out for the interests of the American people,” he said.

Even though Vance admitted he’s never actually met Putin face-to-face, he told Laura Ingraham that he’s “spoken with him a number of times.”

Trump picks up the phone to call Putin 'right now'

Vance’s comments came with a story about how Trump decided to phone Putin this week in the middle of a jam-packed day of talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.

“So, we’re actually in the East Wing of the White House, and the president says, ‘You know, we’ve had a pretty good meeting. I’m going to call Vladimir Putin, see what he says about it,’” Vance recalled.

“And everybody’s like, ‘Oh, you’re going to call him next week?’ And he’s like, ‘No, what time is it in Moscow? Let’s call him right now.’”

That impromptu call, according to Trump, could now pave the way for face-to-face talks between Putin and Zelenskyy.

JD Vance lays big sticking points between Russia and Ukraine

Vance laid out what’s really at the heart of the negotiations over ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, which is now dragging into its fourth year. “There really are two big questions lingering out there, and in some ways it’s very simple, but in some ways it’s very complicated,” he said.

“Number one is, Ukraine wants to know that it’s not going to get invaded again by Russia. It wants to know that it’s got territorial integrity long into the future. The Russians want certain pieces of territory, most of which they’ve occupied, but some of which they haven’t," the VP explained.

According to Vance, that’s “really where the meat of the negotiation is. The Ukrainians want security guarantees. The Russians want a certain amount of territory.”

Trump, meanwhile, has been ramping up his push to end the conflict. He just hosted Putin in Alaska last week, then turned around and held talks at the White House on Monday with Zelensky and European leaders.

The US is now trying to tee up a one-on-one sit-down between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. If that goes smoothly, Trump says he’s ready to follow up with a three-way summit featuring himself, Putin, and Zelensky.

Putin is optimistic about reaching agreement after Trump summit

In his first public remarks since the Alaska summit announcement, Putin sounded almost optimistic about Trump’s peace push.

Chairing a meeting of top Russian officials at the Kremlin on Thursday, Putin said, “The current American administration is making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict.”

As for the summit with Trump, Putin cast it as something bigger than just Ukraine.

The goal, he said, was to “create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, as well as in Europe, and in the world as a whole.”

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