This video is a short excerpt of a longer interview with Anne Applebaum. Below is a transcript from one of the questions. 

DW: Why is US President Donald Trump so patient with Vladimir Putin? He has known him for quite a long time. Why has he been so gentle with Putin until now? What's your explanation?

Anne Applebaum: People have been asking this question for a decade. There was a major investigation during Trump's first presidency into the sources of Russian influence on the Trump campaign. It showed that there was influence, but they were never able to prove that there was criminal involvement. We know that Trump has had Russian connections for more than 30 years. He's had Russian investment into his business. And this is not a conspiracy theory. This is all documented. We know that he has had positive thoughts about Russia. We know he's felt very negative about US alliances for a long time. It's in his books from more than a decade ago. All these instincts have been in place even before Putin came to power.

Since he's in power, Trump is someone who's very impressed by people who operate without checks and balances, without restrictions, without courts, without journalists. He admires that kind of power. My guess is that he's positively disposed to the Russians anyway and that he's personally impressed with Putin.

I don't know, obviously, what their personal interactions are like, but Putin is a trained KGB officer. He would know how to find somebody's weaknesses, and he would know how to find the way to manipulate someone and persuade them that he is his friend. Certainly, it's the case that Trump believes Putin to be his friend, and he has said that, he's used that word.

For more, watch the video above.