Correct. The Putin is one of the very few global leaders of note who does exactly what he says.

I suspect a big part of the problem that Western leaders have in dealing with him, is that they are used to lying to themselves and their people, to the point where they have literally no idea how to handle someone who actually does precisely what he says he will do. So they keep trying to double-deal with him, and impute motives to him that make literally zero sense, and project their own failures onto him, because they completely fail to comprehend him.

It is like we see in John 1:5 – some modern English translations render it as “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”, but the KJV translates it as, “the darkness comprehended it not”. In this case, I think the latter applies.

Putin is not a nice man – though he is an exceptionally courteous and, in many ways, kind one. He is a ruthless and highly pragmatic ruler of a great power, and cannot afford to be nice. But he IS, at least, generally honest. And that sets him apart.