“I will still take a bullet for Putin”: Bernie Ecclestone says the Russian president is a “first-class person” who “believed he was doing the right thing” by ordering an invasion of Ukraine – and says Zelensky needed more did to avoid war
Bernie Eccleston said he would “still take a bullet” for warring Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who “believed he was doing the right thing” by ordering his bloody invasion of Ukraine.
In a bizarre interview on Good Morning Britain, the former Formula 1 owner (91) described the 69-year-old dictator as a ‘first-class person’ and ‘sensitive’.
This comes after reports of Russian attacks on apartment buildings and a shopping mall in Ukraine, the latter of which was branded by Western leaders as a war crime.
Ecclestone said such civilian casualties were “unintentional”, despite tens of thousands of innocent civilians feared dead in Eastern European country by indiscriminate protection.
Ecclestone spoke of a sunny roof in Ibiza and also fired a shot at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he was a comedian before the war and it looks like he ‘wants to continue to be one ‘.
The billionaire then insisted that the invasion “could have ended differently” if Zelensky had “spoken to Putin”.
In a bizarre interview on Good Morning Britain, former Formula 1 owner Bernie Ecclestone (91) described 69-year-old dictator Vladimir Putin as a ‘first-class person’ and ‘sensitive’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and F1 Supreme Bernie Ecclestone (R) attend the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix competition 11 October 2015 in Sochi, Russia
When journalist Kate Garraway called, asking if he believed a change in Zelensky’s actions, rather than Putin’s, could have avoided war, Ecclestone replied, “Absolutely.”
He added: “What he is doing is something he believed was the right thing for Russia.
“Unfortunately, we, like many business people, definitely make mistakes like I do from time to time, and if you made the mistake, you have to do the best you can to get out of it.”
‘I think if it was done properly – I mean the other person in Ukraine, his profession, I understand he was a comedian, and I think it looks like he wants to continue that profession, because I think if he talks about things thought he would have made a big enough effort to talk to Mr Putin, who is a sensitive person and would have listened to him and probably done something about it. ‘
Ben Shephard asked Ecclestone about the thousands of innocent lives killed in Ukraine and asked him, “Can’t you justify it?”
Ecclestone replied, ‘I do not. It was not intentional – look at all times America has moved into different countries that have nothing to do with America. ‘
This is not the first time Ecclestone has offered to take a bullet for Putin, a longtime friend of his.
In 2019, he said he would ‘stand in front of a machine gun’ to save him because he is a ‘good guy’.
He said he did not believe he was behind the infamous Novichok attack in Salisbury, which accused people of making things up.
He said: ” He did not do it. He would be too busy worrying about that kind of thing. Storytellers make up these things. ‘
The former F1 boss also said he thought Putin should run Europe and that the Crimean invasion was just to ‘bring Russia back together’.
He added: “I would like him to run Europe,” he said. “We have no one, so it could not be worse. He does what he says he will do. . .
“I’m not a proponent of democracy. You need a dictator. As a dictator, you say, ‘This is what I’m going to do. In a democracy, it is watered down. ‘