US President Donald Trump, replying to a question in a recent interview, which addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “killer”, said that that the United States is not so innocent, has many killers and “does plenty of killing. There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?,” Trump said in the interview with Fox's Bill O'Reilly, adding that he respects Putin.

This is the second time that Trump has defended Putin against charges of killing innocent civilians. Trump has been signalling his willingness to improve relations with Russia, even before he assumed office, and has been criticised for holding favourable views of Putin. Putin has also responded in kind, calling Trump a “very bright and talented man” at one occasion.

On being asked why he respects Putin, Trump said that he is the leader of Russia and it is in the US interest to get along with Russia. He said he has no idea if he will get along with Putin, adding that Russia’s help in fighting radical Islamic terrorism will be “a good thing”.

The US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, while condemning Russia for annexation of Crimea last week, had said that Washington wants to improve its ties with Moscow. Blunting her criticism further, she said its "unfortunate" that she had to condemn Russia.