The winner of the US presidential election, Donald Trump, said last night that he sympathized with the Russian position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO and expressed regret that he would not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before taking office, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
In his remarks at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump also accused Democratic President Joe Biden of changing the US position on Ukraine's membership in NATO.
„A big part of the problem is that Russia - for many, many years, long before Putin - has been saying: „There can never be a NATO presence in Ukraine“. Now, they say this. It's like it's set in stone," Trump said.
“And at one point Biden said, “No. They should be able to join NATO.“ Well, then Russia would have someone right on its doorstep, and I could understand their feelings on that issue,” he added.
Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have officially expressed support for Ukraine’s eventual membership since the 2008 Bucharest summit, and the Biden administration continues to support Ukraine’s eventual accession to the alliance, although it has not yet received an invitation, Reuters recalls.
Trump’s advisers and allies generally oppose Ukraine’s membership in NATO, at least for the foreseeable future, seeing it as an unnecessary provocation to Moscow.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian leaders have aggressively pushed for their country to receive an invitation to NATO membership, arguing that it is key to deterring further Russian aggression.
Trump had said during campaign before the Nov. 5 election that he could end the war in Ukraine before he takes office. While he still says he would end it quickly, he has largely backed down from that claim, Reuters notes.
“I hope I have six months. No, I think, I hope, well before six months“, Trump said when asked if he could end the war within six months.
“Look, Russia is losing a lot of young people, and Ukraine is, and this should never have started“, he said.
Trump also complained that he could not meet with Putin before his inauguration on Jan. 20. Without giving further details, he said that such a meeting would be inappropriate.
“I know Putin would like to meet,“, Trump said. "I don't think it's appropriate to meet before the 20th, which I don't like because, you know, people are dying every day - many, many young people are dying," he added.