Russian President Vladimir Putin said the war in Ukraine would not have happened if Donald Trump were the President of the United States in 2022. Addressing a joint press briefing with Trump after their high-stakes meeting in Alaska, Putin said he had tried to convince then-US President Joe Biden about the gravity of the situation.
"I would like to remind you, that in 2022, during our last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague, the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities, and I said it quite directly back then, that it was a big mistake,” he said.
Putin’s remarks appeared to have reaffirmed Trump’s repeated claim that he would have averted the Russia–Ukraine conflict.
In his address, Putin acknowledged that Russia-US relations have nosedived to the lowest point since the Cold War, and a personal meeting of the heads of the two nations was overdue to correct the situation.
“As you well know and understand, one of the central issues has become the situation around Ukraine. We see the desire of the US administration and President Trump personally to facilitate the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, his desire to delve into the essence and understand its origins,” Putin said.
He reiterated Russia’s argument that the events in Ukraine were associated with fundamental threats to its national security.
"We have always considered and consider the Ukrainian people, I have said this many times, brotherly, no matter how strange that may sound in today's conditions. We have the same roots and everything that is happening for us is a tragedy and a great pain,” the President said.
He asserted that the root cause of the war must be eliminated to find a solution to the ongoing conflict. “Russia's legitimate concerns must be taken into account, and a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and the world as a whole must be restored,” Putin said in his media briefing.