I’d take a bullet for Vladimir, says Ecclestone

BERNIE ECCLESTONE was branded a “shocking apologist” for Vladimir Putin by Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, after the former boss of Formula One said he would “take a bullet” for the Russian president.

Mr Ecclestone, 91, provoked widespread outrage with an extraordinary defence of Mr Putin during a live interview on breakfast television.

Asked on ITV’S Good Morning Britain if he still regards Mr Putin as a friend, Mr Ecclestone 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.”

Ms Truss reacted angrily to the comments which were seized upon in Russia and played repeatedly on state television. The Foreign Secretary said: “I think those comments are extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary. This is a man [Putin] who has perpetrated an appalling war involving the systematic rape of women, the targeting of civilians in shopping centres.”

In an interview with Piers Morgan last night, Mr Ecclestone went further, appearing to refer to the Ukrainian population as “Russians”. Speaking on Talktv, he said: “How many Russians were there in Ukraine when he [Putin] invaded?... They were all Russian people.” When Morgan disagreed, Ecclestone responded: “No, they were Russians.”

A spokesman for Formula One said: “The comments made by Bernie Ecclestone are his personal views and are in very stark contrast to the position of the modern values of our sport.”

In his interview yesterday, Mr Ecclestone also criticised Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president and a former comedian, saying “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”.

‘Unfortunately, he’s like a lot of business people, certainly like me, we make mistakes from time to time’