Story highlights Trump praised Putin at a national security forum on Wednesday

Ryan called Putin an "aggressor that does not share our interests"

Washington (CNN) House Speaker Paul Ryan, pressed about Donald Trump's praise of the strongman Russian leader, trashed Vladimir Putin, but wouldn't criticize the GOP presidential nominee.

"Vladimir Putin is an aggressor that does not share our interests," Ryan told reporters at his weekly news conference on Capitol Hill, before listing what he viewed as the Russian leaders' transgressions.

"Vladimir Putin is violating the sovereignty of neighboring countries. It certainly appears that he is conducting state-sponsored cyber-attacks on what appears to be our political system. That is not acting in our interest. And that is an adversarial stance and he is acting like an adversary," he said.

But when CNN pressed the speaker if he had concerns about Trump's high regard for Putin, Ryan dodged.

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