Putin says acting talent may not help Ukraine's new leader

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Ukraine's new leader Volodymyr Zelensky may be a talented actor but his former television role as a fictional president does not automatically give him the skills to be a real one.

"I don't know this person, I hope we meet some day," Putin said at an economic forum in Saint Petersburg when asked why he did not congratulate Zelensky on his inauguration day in May.

"It seems that he is a good specialist in his field, the field he worked before, a good actor," he said.

"But it's one thing to play somebody, and another to be somebody."
"But to tend to state affairs you need other skills, a certain experience, knowledge. You need to see problems and find tools to solve them."