Russia warned on Thursday that Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump’s promise to quickly end the war in Ukraine if he regains the White House must be viewed with realism, recalling that Trump promised in his previous term to make peace and in the Middle East, which did not happen.
“I saw the statements. Trump said he would resolve the conflict (in Ukraine, ed.) within 24 hours, but then (his vice president, if elected ed.) Vance said that China is a bigger problem for the United States than the Russian- Ukrainian”, said the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, in front of the press.
“We must separate the pre-election rhetoric from the statements of government officials vested with the appropriate powers. If we talk about the possibility of resolving the conflict, then let’s be realistic!”, she urged.
In this regard, Zaharova recalled that, in his previous presidency from 2017-2021, Trump made ambitious statements about resolving the conflict in the Middle East. “They prepared then for a long time for the ‘deal of the century’, but nothing materialized, and under (current Democratic President Joe) Biden, even worse, a historical tragedy happened,” she noted, referring to the current war from the Gaza Strip.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far expressed several opinions about the elections that will take place in the USA on November 5. He claimed in February that he would prefer to win over Biden, whom he described as a more predictable politician than Trump, although the current US president unreservedly supports Ukraine in its war with Russia, while Trump has repeatedly hinted that, if he becomes president again, he could stop American military aid to Ukraine, a situation that would force Kiev to negotiate from unfavorable positions with Moscow.
In another statement in June, Putin said that no matter who wins the US presidential election, it won’t make a big difference for Russia. However, the Russian president also stated that he takes seriously Trump’s comments about his desire for the war in Ukraine to end, adding that he does not have details about what Trump could concretely propose in such an approach.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed this week that he is not afraid of a possible return to the White House of Republican Donald Trump. I think if Donald Trump becomes president, we will work together. I’m not afraid,” Zelenski assured. “I want to tell you that the majority of the Republican Party supports Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” argued Zelensky.
The latter also announced that he had set himself the goal of establishing all the elements of a new peace plan in time so that in November, the month when the US elections take place, a new summit on his vision of ending the war could be organized with Russia and to which, unlike the first summit of this kind that took place in Switzerland in June, Russia should also be invited. But Moscow reacted skeptically to this initiative by Zelensky, in which it sees rather a new attempt by him to obtain international support for his proposals to end the conflict.
In a proposal for a ceasefire and a negotiated peace, which has since been rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies, Vladimir Putin last month demanded the withdrawal of Kiev’s troops from the four Ukrainian provinces claimed by Russia (Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson) and the renunciation by Ukraine of the aspiration to join NATO, as a step before the resumption of negotiations between Moscow and Kiev based on the unfinished agreement at the negotiations held in March-April 2022 in Istanbul.
Ukraine has said it only accepts the “peace formula” proposed by President Zelensky, a ten-point document that specifically calls for the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory, the restoration of Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and the creation of an international tribunal to try Russian war crimes . Russia rejected the plan and asked Kiev to recognize the “new realities on the ground”, namely the loss of Crimea and other Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, and later Zelenskiy said he was working on a new peace plan to be ready by November.
Source: www.cotidianul.ro
