Former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has said he would “take a bullet” for Russian President Vladimir Putin and described him as “a first-class person”.
Ecclestone was asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain if he still regards Mr Putin as a friend and he replied: “I’d still take a bullet for him. I’d rather it didn’t hurt, but if it does I’d still take a bullet, because he’s a first-class person.
“What he’s doing is something that he believed was the right thing he was doing for Russia.
“Unfortunately, he’s like a lot of business people, certainly like me, we make mistakes from time to time. When you’ve made the mistake, you have to do the best you can to get out of it.
“I think if it had been conducted properly, I mean the other person in Ukraine, I mean, his profession, I understand, he used to be a comedian.
“I think he seems as if he wants to continue that profession, because I think if he’d have thought about things, he would have definitely made a big enough effort to speak to Mr Putin, who is a sensible person and would have listened to him and could have probably done something about it.”
Ecclestone said the war in Ukraine could have been avoided by actions taken by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On Good Morning Britain, presenter Kate Garraway said: “So just to understand you clearly, you think that President Zelensky should have done more to avert this war and it could have been avoided by Zelensky’s actions, not by a change in Putin’s actions?”
Mr Ecclestone replied: “Absolutely.”
It was put to Mr Ecclestone that he surely could not justify the actions of Mr Putin and the deaths of thousands of people.
“I don’t. It wasn’t intentional,” he replied.
Ecclestone said the war in Ukraine was not “intentional”, adding: “And I’m quite sure Ukraine, if they’d wanted to get out of it properly, could have done.”
Asked if he has had a chance to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin about “what a mess” the situation is or urged him to rethink what he is doing, Ecclestone told Good Morning Britain: “No. He’s probably thought about that himself. He probably doesn’t need reminding.
“I’m absolutely sure he now wishes he hadn’t started this whole business, but didn’t start as a war.”
