Donald Trump says a meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin is being set up
“He wants to meet, and we are setting it up”, Trump said in remarks before a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday.
“President Putin wants to meet. Even in private, he has said that the war must be ended. That’s a bloody mess”, Trump said about the Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump’s request for communication has been acknowledged by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who earlier said earlier on Thursday that Putin would welcome it. According to Peskov, it would be wiser to wait until Trump’s election as president first.
Following promises made during his campaign to bring peace to Ukraine, which had been at war for almost three years following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the US president-elect made a statement about meeting Putin just one week and a half before taking office.
Trump has never made any concrete proposals for a ceasefire or peace agreement. However, he and his advisers have made suggestions to put an end to the conflict, including giving large chunks of Ukraine to Russia for the foreseeable future.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, has stated that Trump could help stop Putin and influence the outcome of the 34-month-old conflict with Russia.
Zelenskyy said the “hot phase” of the conflict might come to an end if NATO offered security guarantees for the area of Ukraine that is currently under Kyiv’s control in an interview with Sky News’ Stuart Ramsay, which was made public on November 29.
Zelenskyy added that later diplomatic negotiations could be held regarding the return of the land occupied by Russia.
Trump has, however, frequently made fun of Zelenskyy as a “salesman” and sparked outrage among allies by not sparing Putin.
He added that he sympathized with the Russians’ claim that Ukraine should not join NATO on Tuesday.
“A big part of the problem is, Russia – for many, many years, long before Putin – said, ‘ You could never have NATO involved with Ukraine. ‘ Now, they’ve said that. That’s been, like, written in stone”, he said.
“And somewhere along the line,]outgoing President Joe] Biden said, ‘ No. They ought to be able to enlist in NATO. Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that”.
Trump has also frequently criticized the US’s extensive military assistance to Kyiv.
Under Democratic President Joe Biden, the US has provided more than $ 175 billion in aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion first started, including more than $ 60 billion in security assistance.
However, it’s uncertain whether Trump’s administration will continue to provide that kind of aid. Trump has stated that he wants to put an end to the war right away.
Trump has also repeatedly argued that the US should reconsider its commitment to the military alliance unless NATO partners increase their spending. He also suggested that Trump might have argued that the US wouldn’t spend enough on defense.
Most European members have recently moved to raise their spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product, NATO’s current minimum recommendation.
Source: Aljazeera
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