“I want people to stop dying because of this ridiculous war,” Trump said in a telephone interview with Reuters.
Washington:
Former US President Donald Trump, a longtime admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Thursday that Putin has been “somewhat weakened” by an aborted mutiny and that now is the time for the United States to try to negotiate a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and to come to Russia. Ukraine.
“I want people to stop dying because of this ridiculous war,” Trump said in a telephone interview with Reuters.
Speaking extensively on foreign policy, the frontrunner in polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination also said China should be given a 48-hour deadline to get out of what sources familiar with the matter say is a Chinese spying capability on the island. Cuba 90 miles (145 km) off the US coast.
On Ukraine, Trump did not rule out that the Kiev government might have to cede some territory to Russia to stop the war, which began when Russian troops invaded Ukraine 16 months ago. He said everything “would be conditional” if he were president, but that Ukrainians who fought a vigorous fight to defend their country “deserved a lot of credit”.
“I think they have a right to keep a lot of what they earned and I think Russia would agree to that too. You need the right mediator or negotiator, and we don’t have them right now,” he said.
US President Joe Biden and NATO allies want Russia to leave the territory in eastern Ukraine it has taken. Ukraine has launched a counter-offensive that has made small gains in driving out Russian troops.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last year proposed a 10-point peace plan calling on Russia to withdraw all its troops.
“I think the most important thing the US should do right now is make peace — bring Russia and Ukraine together and make peace. You can do it,” Trump said. “Now is the time to do it, to get the two sides together to force peace.”
As president, Trump developed friendly relations with Putin, who Biden said on Wednesday has “become a bit of a pariah around the world” for invading Ukraine.
Trump said Putin was damaged last weekend by an uprising by the Russian mercenaries, the Wagner Group, and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“You could say he (Putin) is still there, he’s still strong, but he’s definitely, I would say slightly weakened, at least in the minds of a lot of people,” he said.
However, if Putin were no longer in power, “you don’t know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be much worse,” Trump said.
Turning to the war crimes charges brought against Putin by the International Criminal Court last March, Trump said Putin’s fate should be discussed when the war is over “because if you bring that subject up now, you will never make peace, you will never make peace”. a settlement.”
Trump was adamantly opposed to the Chinese spy base in Cuba, saying that if Beijing refused to accept its 48-hour demand to close it, a Trump administration would impose new tariffs on Chinese goods.
As president, Trump took a tougher stance on China, while claiming to have a good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who soured over the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’d give them 48 hours to get out. And if they couldn’t get out, I’d charge them 100% tariff on everything they sell to the United States, and they’d be out in two days. She’d be out in be gone for an hour,” Trump said.
Trump questioned whether the United States would support Taiwan militarily if China invaded the self-governed island Beijing claims as its own.
“I don’t talk about that. And the reason I don’t is because it would hurt my bargaining position,” he said. “All I can tell you is for
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
