Ex-Formula 1 boss Ecclestone says that “Putin is a first-class person” during UK’s Good Morning Britain breakfast show. Ecclestone and Putin have enjoyed a close friendship for many years. This apparently continues even beyond the Ukraine war, indeed the former F1 boss blames the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the war.
In a controversial interview on the British breakfast show “Good Morning Britain”, the former CEO of Formula One holding company “SLEC” Bernie Ecclestone emphasised his intimate connection with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sitting in front of a seaside backdrop, the businessman said he would “still walk through fire” for him. With the invasion of Ukraine, Putin had merely done something “that he thought was the right thing for Russia to do”. The Russian president is a “first-class person”, the 91 year old continued.
In view of the war of aggression Putin is currently waging in Ukraine, Ecclestone’s statements are causing controversy on social networks.
That Putin, like himself, is a business person “who makes mistakes from time to time” is the biggest admission Ecclestone makes in this interview.
According to Eccelstone, the “person in Ukraine” is “a comedian” who continues to do his job. The entrepreneur does not even mention the name of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy in the course of the interview, who was a famous comedic actor before entering Ukrainian politics.
On the other hand, the billionaire sees the Ukrainian president as responsible for the war. He had missed the opportunity to talk to Putin.
“If he had thought about it enough, he would have made an effort to talk to Putin about it,” the motorsport tycoon said. The Russian president was a reasonable person who listened and “would have done something”.
The interviewer follows up: whether she understands correctly that the war could have been prevented by Zelenskyy’s actions, but not by Putin’s. “Absolutely,” Eccelstone replies. The death of thousands of innocent Ukrainians was nevertheless “not intentional”.
