(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In an interview excerpt circulating online Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he might not have invaded Ukraine in February 2022 if Donald Trump were still U.S. President at the time.
“If the victory wasn’t stolen from him in 2020, maybe the Ukrainian crisis that arose in 2022 would never [have] appeared,” Putin said, according to an English translation that appeared on the Russian media outlet RT.com.
🚨PUTIN on TRUMP:
“If the victory wasn't stolen from him in 2020, maybe the Ukrainian crisis that arose in 2022 would never [have] appeared.” pic.twitter.com/GEFI5736aM— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 24, 2025
While some may brush off Putin’s statement as a negotiating tactic, it’s certainly the case that he invaded Ukraine during the Obama and Biden presidencies—but not Trump’s.
His remarks come as Trump seeks to end the war in Ukraine.
On the campaign trail last year, Trump repeatedly vowed to end the Ukrainian war on the first day of his administration. But after winning the election in November, he and his advisors suggested that peace negotiations could take longer. Trump has also threatened stronger sanctions against Russia, much to the chagrin of peace activists.
On Thursday, Trump renewed his calls for peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“It’s so important to get that done. That is an absolute killing field. Millions of soldiers are being killed. Nobody has seen anything like it since World War II,” he said, as reported by antiwar.com.
Trump also called for denuclearization with Russia and China.
“We were talking about denuclearization of our two countries, and China would have come along. China right now has a much smaller nuclear armament than us, or field, than us, but they’re going to be catching [up] at some point,” Trump reportedly said.
“I will tell you that President Putin really liked the idea of cutting back on nuclear, and I think the rest of the world, we would have gotten them to follow, and China would have come along too. China also liked it. Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about. It’s too depressing,” he reportedly added.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.