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The US president has touted the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin may invade other countries following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine during a press conference at the NATO summit in the Hague.
Trump was asked whether he considered Putin as an enemy and if he believed Putin had territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine. “It’s possible”, Donald Trump replied.
“I consider him [Putin] a person who I think is misguided,” he said.
Trump also said Putin called him to offer help in settling the recent Middle East conflict and to act as an interlocutor between the US, Israel and Iran.
“He called the other day [and] said: ‘Can I help you with Iran?’ I said no, you can help me with Russia,” said Trump.
Trump has previously indicated he’s in regular contact with Putin especially over Ukraine.
“I know one thing. He [Putin] would like to settle. He would like to get out of this. It’s a mess for him. I said: ‘You help me get a settlement with you’ – and I think we’re going to be doing that soon,” he told reporters.
Ahead of his second term in the White House, Trump announced he would negotiate an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine within 24 hours, but he told reporters at the NATO summit that he was being sarcastic.
He said the negotiations are “more difficult that anyone had thought”, and that “Putin is more difficult”.
Trump also said he had a “good” meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the margins of the summit.
Trump said he would “see” if the US could supply Ukraine with Patriot air defence systems in future.
All 32 NATO allies agreed to increase spending on defence to 5% of GDP within ten years at the two-day summit in the Hague.
Trump said this was a “big win” for the US and the West.