MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In a Sunday interview with the CBS broadcaster, Kissinger called Russian President Vladimir Putin "a character out of Dostoyevsky" and a "cold calculator of the Russian national interest, as he conceives it."
"Kissinger really does know our country well… It does not mean that he agrees with Russia on everything, and nobody would expect that from him, but at least, he has profound, not shallow knowledge [about Russia]," Peskov said.
Kissinger served as the US state secretary under President Richard Nixon and President Gerald Ford in 1973-1977, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for the ceasefire and withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam. Kissinger also pioneered the detente policy toward the Soviet Union and contributed to the improvement of US relations with China.