Russian President Vladimir Putin does not believe former President Donald Trump could end the war in Ukraine if he was reelected. Trump has slammed President Joe Biden for allowing the war in Ukraine to spiral out of control and promised to end the conflict within days of taking office.
Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum, Putin remarked, “I think there will be no fundamental changes regarding Russia in US foreign policy, no matter who is elected president,” he said. “Mr. Trump says he will solve acute problems, including the Ukrainian crisis, in a few days, this can only please. Nevertheless, he too imposed sanctions on Russia during his presidency.”
During his first presidential run and as president, Trump was routinely attacked by the US government, intelligence agencies, mainstream media, and his political rivals on both sides of the aisle as a witting or unwitting agent of Putin. However, the central claims of the Russiagate Hoax have now been thoroughly debunked. Still, the false narrative remains a prominent talking point in American politics.
Additionally, as president, Trump did not adopt policies favorable to Russia. As Putin observed, Trump issued multiple rounds of sanctions on Russia, including for false scandals such as Russiagate and the Skrpial poisoning.
Trump also provided Ukrainian forces with lethal weapons, a step President Barack Obama refused to take. While Biden would go on to ship tens of billions of dollars of weapons to Ukraine, the initial tranches of Javelin missiles were authorized by Trump.
The former president promised to bring a quick end to the war in Ukraine if he is reelected. “If I were president, I [would] end that war in one day. It’ll take 24 hours. I will get that ended. It would be easy.” Trump added, “That deal would be easy. A lot of it has to do with the money. That war has to be stopped. It is a disaster.”
While Trump asserts the impasse in Ukraine is due to money, Moscow and Kiev have overlapping territorial claims that both sides say are non-negotiable.
Putin went on to say that the treatment of Trump under President Biden shows America’s moving away from a Democratic system. “As for the prosecution of Trump, for us what is happening in today’s conditions, in my opinion, is good because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others democracy.” He continued,
“Everything that is happening with Trump is the persecution of a political rival for political reasons. That’s what it is. And this is being done in front of the public of the United States and the whole world.”
The Biden administration has made similar accusations against Putin for his treatment of Alexi Navalny. However, Navalny is a marginal political figure in Russia, while Trump is leading the Republican presidential primary race. Additionally, Navalny has explicitly called for violence to be used against Russia’s Muslim minority population.
