Putin hits back at Trump over 'paper tiger' comments
Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin was outraged by comments that Russia is a "paper tiger", according to Putin's speech at the Valdai Club.
The Russian leader insisted that Russia is not a "paper tiger," as US President Donald Trump called it. He even compared Russia to NATO, effectively challenging Western countries and the American President.
"If Russia is a paper tiger, then what is NATO?.. Go ahead and try to deal with the paper tiger," Putin said.
Paper tiger
On September 30, US President Donald Trump confirmed during a meeting with American generals and admirals that he had told Putin that Russia is a paper tiger.
"I said to him, 'You know, you don’t look good. You’re four years fighting a war that should have taken a week. Are you a paper tiger?'" the US President said.
With this, Trump publicly reaffirmed his statement from September 23, when he first compared Russia to a paper tiger. Trump made this statement because, according to him, Russia has been fighting aimlessly for more than three years and has achieved minimal success at the cost of enormous losses.
