WASHINGTON — What is striking about Donald J. Trump’s latest effusion of admiration for Russia’s stony-faced leader, Vladimir V. Putin, is how similar it is to the way Mr. Putin is portrayed in Russia: as a necessary foil for an aggressive and flawed American leadership.

Interviewed at an NBC candidates forum Wednesday night, Mr. Trump offered no account of Mr. Putin’s achievements, except perhaps for noting an 82 percent approval rating from a polling agency now under legal threat as a “foreign agent.” Nor did Mr. Trump outline much of a vision for working with him if he became president, beyond pondering how wonderful it would be if Russia and the United States could join forces against the Islamic State.

Instead he recited a litany of perceived slights or disrespect that President Obama has endured on the world stage, including the awkward arrival ceremony on his most recent visit to China for the Group of 20 gathering. The message, Mr. Trump said, is that Mr. Putin earns more respect now than Mr. Obama.

“He’s been a leader,” he said of Mr. Putin, “far more than our president has been a leader.”

Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton, campaigning to be Mr. Obama’s Democratic successor, sharply criticized the remarks on Thursday. So did some fellow Republicans, including the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, who listed many of the reasons Mr. Putin amounts to an adversary of the United States, not a potential ally.