Trump on NATO’s role in war in Ukraine

Trump appeared Thursday night on David Sacks’ podcast, an Elon Musk partner and financier known for his pro-Russia views, “All In.” When asked if he would agree to exclude Ukraine from NATO as part of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, he suggested that the issue of Ukraine’s possible NATO entry had provoked Russia to invade the country.

“I’ve heard for 20 years that NATO is a real problem for Russia. I’ve heard that for a long time, and I think that’s why this war started,” Trump said, accusing US President Joe Biden of causing the conflict with “provocative” statements during the standoff ahead of the Russian invasion.

Accusations against Biden provoke conflict

“If you look at Biden’s rhetoric, he’s saying the exact opposite of what I think he needs to be saying. The things he’s saying, the things he keeps saying, he’s saying crazy things,” he said, adding that he initially thought Putin was massing his forces near the Ukrainian border for negotiating purposes.

“But then he suddenly attacked. I said: +What is happening here?+” he continued.

David Sacks’ controversial claims

Sacks replied – without citing any sources – that during talks before the Russian invasion, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that Ukraine had the green light to join the Alliance and the US could deploy its nuclear weapons on its territory.

It’s unclear where Sacks got his report. In the months leading up to the Russian attack, the U.S. administration, including Biden and Blinken, expressed readiness to talk about nuclear arms control. He did not talk about Ukraine joining NATO, but about maintaining the alliance’s “open-door policy.” A week before the invasion, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Ukraine’s membership was “not on the agenda,” and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was a “distant dream.”

Trump reacts to Blinken’s alleged remarks

Responding to Sacks’ remarks, Trump said that if he were running Russia, he would not be “too happy” about Blinken’s alleged remarks. He added that “it was well understood, even before Putin,” that Russia did not want NATO and its troops on its borders.

“It was always clear that this was something they didn’t agree with and you can’t go against their wishes. And it doesn’t mean they were right when they said it, but it was very provocative and now it’s even worse. provocative. And they say – I hear it a lot – about Ukraine joining NATO, and now I also hear that France wants to go there (Ukraine – PAP) and go to war.

Trump’s comments on foreign policy and war with China

Elsewhere in the interview on foreign policy, Trump said, among other things, that war with China was unlikely, while simultaneously accusing Biden of being the “Manchurian candidate” (an allusion to a 1960s film about a presidential candidate controlled by communist China). He also claimed that – as with the war in Ukraine – there would never be a war in the Gaza Strip if he were president.

Use of interviews by media and Biden campaign staff

Excerpts of Trump’s Ukraine conversation were posted by the Kremlin’s Sputnik news agency, among others. Biden’s campaign staff also used them to attack Trump.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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