Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the US election, praised him for his courage in the attempted assassination attempt and said Moscow was ready for dialogue with the Republican president-elect.
In his first public remarks since Trump’s victory, Putin said Trump behaved like a real man during the assassination attempt on him when he spoke at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July. Putin said at the Valdai discussion club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi:
“He behaved, in my opinion, very correctly, courageously, like a real man. I take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election.”
Putin claimed Trump’s remarks during the election campaign about Ukraine and restoring relations with Russia were noteworthy. He noted:
“What was said about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to achieve an end to the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, it deserves attention, at least.”
During the campaign, Trump said he could bring peace to Ukraine within 24 hours if elected, but gave few details on how he would seek to end Europe’s biggest land war since World War II.
The 72-year-old Kremlin chief gave only one note of caution:
“I don’t know what will happen now. I don’t have the slightest idea.”
The Russian leader also said:
“We are ready for peace talks, but only not on the basis of some “wishful thinking” whose names change from month to month, but on the basis of the realities that are emerging and on the basis of the agreements that were reached in Istanbul – on the basis, but based on the realities of today.”
Ukraine as “a tool to fight Russians”
In Russian President’s opinion, peace, tranquility and cooperation are needed between neighbouring Russia and Ukraine for a long historical perspective. Putin assured:
“This is what we should strive for, this is what Russia is striving for. Only it should not be about a truce for half an hour or six months for shells to roll in there, but to create favourable conditions for restoring relations and cooperation of the future in the interests of the two peoples, which are certainly fraternal, no matter how it is complicated by rhetoric, by today’s tragic events in relations between Russia and Ukraine.”
Putin also said that the West was using Ukraine as a tool to fight Russians. According to him, Ukrainians are being “cynically trained” against Russians, turning them, in fact, into cannon fodder. He added that at the same time Western politicians talk “about the European choice.” He stated:
“What a choice. We definitely don’t need such a thing.”
During his speech, the president also said that there is a conflict in the world between the vast majority of the world’s population and a global minority that is only concerned with maintaining its dominance.
Asked what he would do if Trump called and proposed a meeting, Putin said he was ready to resume contacts if the Trump administration wanted him to and was ready for a discussion with Trump.
US special counsel Robert Mueller investigated allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 US presidential election, but said in a 2019 report that he found no evidence of collusion.
