What is Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin?

 

Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via REUTERS

Former President Donald Trump has said he had a “good” relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he was in the Oval Office, adding that war between Russia and Ukraine would not have happened if he were in office. 

“So I had a good relationship with Putin despite the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax that lasted for over two years. Just a hoax created by Hillary Clinton and Adam Shifty Schiff,” Trump told tech billionaire Elon Musk in an X interview last month.

“I know Putin very well, I got along with him very well. He respected me. It’s just one of those things, and we would talk a lot about Ukraine. It was the apple of his eye. I said, “Don’t ever do it. Don’t ever do it,” he added during the interview. 

Trump has long been accused by liberal critics  of having a cozy relationship with the Russian leader, which Trump has brushed aside, saying he and Putin simply respect each other as leaders.

Similar to Trump’s view on the Israel-Gaza conflict, the former president says Putin’s invasion of Ukraine wouldn’t have happened in 2022 were he in the White House.

The Biden-Harris administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021, when 13 U.S. service members were killed, was a key sign of weakness to Putin emboldening the invasion, Trump argues.