Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. What do we know about the relationship between the United States and the Russian presidents?
Trump has a history of positive and delightful comments about Putin, which has long pushed criticism that he was “soft in Russia.” He refuses this, saying that he was not any striking American president in Moscow.
Trump described Putin as a strong and intelligent leader and said he “got great” with him during his first term at the White House. Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has criticized Putin’s behavior of the “funny” Ukraine war and said that the conflict “destroys” Russia.
“He cannot be pleased, he does not work well,” Trump told reporters on January 20, on his inauguration. “Russia is bigger, and they have more soldiers to lose them, but this is not a way to manage a country.” He threatened more sanctions and definitions on Russia if Putin does not agree to end the war.
Putin said last month that he had always had “pragmatic and confidence” relationships with Trump, and he expressed his support for the last wrong prosecution that, not Joe Biden, was the real winner of the 2020 US presidential election. He said that he and Trump have a lot to talk about them, from Ukraine to Energy prices. Putin also talked about Trump’s courage when one of the gunmen tried to assassinate him last year, saying that he behaved like a “real man”.
The complicity probe, the election and the summit of 2018
During the first period of Trump, American Special Adviser Robert Muller spent nearly two years in investigating Russian efforts to disrupt the 2016 US presidential election – which defeated Trump Hillary Clinton – and whether there was complicity between Moscow and Trump partners. Muller’s 2019 report concluded that Russia has intervened widely in elections through penetration and misleading, but has not created any conspiracy or coordination with the Trump campaign. In response to Muller’s report, Trump announced: “After three years of lies, ambitions and defamation, Russia’s trick has finally died.”
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In July 2018, at a summit with Putin in Helsinki, Trump shocked his aides and the American public when he contradicts the conclusion of his intelligence agencies – he said that before the Kremlin leader denied “very strong and strong” that Moscow had intervened in the 2016 US elections to sabotage the Clinton campaign.
The late Republican Senator John McCain said that he had not spoiled any former American president, “who did not say more than a tyrant.” The next day, Trump retreated and said he made a mistake.
Does Putin have a bargaining on Trump’s materials?
Speculation that Putin may have a kind of comment on Trump, and to be in a position that allows him to blackmail him, and it was tightened due to the appearance of a document in 2017 known as “fabricated steel”, which was prepared by a previous British -led business intelligence company.
It has been suggested, among other things, that Russia may have collected harmful details of the alleged interaction with the prostitutes during the 2013 visit of Trump to Moscow. Trump said the file was “fake news” that was circulated by opponents to harm it.
Never have many allegations have never been proven, and Trump’s lawyers have said it was “very inaccurate” and contains “many wrong, fake or adequate allegations.”
At the Helsinki summit, Putin was asked directly whether Russia had any “settlement materials” on Trump or his family. Putin said he was not aware of the Trump trip in Moscow and it was “complete nonsense” to assume that Russia collected dirt on every major American businessman who came to Russia.
(Participated in the reports of Mark Trevillian; edited by Sharon Singon)
