Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump heaped more praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin during NBCs Commander-in-Chief forum on Wednesday.

Citing a high approval rating , Trump suggested Putin is a better leader than President Barack Obama .

I think when he calls me brilliant, Ill take the compliment, Trump said, referring to a compliment the Russian leader was rumored to have given Trump in December 2015. (Putin later denied he called Trump brilliant, saying he only said Trump was a bright person .)

If he says great things about me, Im gonna say great things about him, Trump added.

Watch the moment above.

Trump has praised Putin as an effective leader many times before. He has flipped on whether or not hes met the Russian leader, claiming on the campaign trail the two have never met while previously saying he got to know him very well.

In July, Trump went as far as saying he hoped Russia had hacked Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons private email servers, which she used while serving as secretary of state. He declined to say whether Putin should stay out of the 2016 presidential election.

Im not going to tell Putin what to do. Why should I tell Putin what to do? Trump said.

Editors note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar , rampant xenophobe , racist , misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims 1.6 billion members of an entire religion from entering the U.S.