Newly elected US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he understands Russia’s sentiment about being on NATO’s doorstep.
“You know, a big part of the problem was Russia for many years, long before (Russian President, Vladimir) Putin said, you can never engage NATO with Ukraine. Now he has said… this It is written in stone that somewhere (US President, Joe) Biden said that no, they should be able to join NATO, then there is someone at the door of Russia and I can understand his feeling about this. Trump said Told reporters in Mar-e-Lago in Florida.
“There were a lot of mistakes made in that conversation. When I heard how Biden was negotiating, I said you’re going to end up in a war and it turned out to be a very bad war. That war could escalate,” he said. “It will be much worse than what is happening now,” he said in response to a question.
“My view is that it was always understood. In fact, I believe they had a deal and then Biden broke it. They had a deal that was a satisfactory deal for Ukraine and everybody else Would have. But Biden said, no, you have to be able to join NATO.
He said, “It’s been that way forever, and no one knows more about NATO than me. You know, many years ago when I first started, I didn’t know much about NATO, but Still, I understood it well.”
Ukraine now wants to become a member of NATO. In 2008, NATO expressed support for Ukraine to join NATO. However, NATO has not yet extended its membership to Ukraine.
Trump also told reporters that he wants NATO members to contribute five percent of their gross domestic product. “NATO should have five percent,” he said.
“Well, you can’t do it at two. I mean at two percent, if you have a country and a regular army, you’re at four percent. I think they’re in dangerous territory. They all do it Can afford, but it should be five percent, not two percent, I am the one who made them pay two percent.”
“They’re taking advantage. I’m the one who took advantage, and the (NATO) Secretary General was here two weeks ago, he said if it wasn’t for me, NATO wouldn’t exist right now. Because I took advantage, they From countries that were not paying their bills, at that time 28 countries, 20 of them were not paying their bills, 21 to be exact,” he stressed.
“They were not paying or they were paying a very small portion, and I raised over USD 680 billion, that was the number they gave by saying if you don’t pay, we can’t protect you. Will do. As soon as I said this, the money started coming in. But Obama could have said this, Bush could have said this. No one could have said this,” he said.
“He said, that’s a threatening statement. Well, they weren’t paying their bills. I said we’re not going to protect you if you’re not paying the bills. So, in true sense, I called NATO But Trump said, NATO has taken advantage of us and I have a problem and I have expressed it openly to President Zelensky.
“Europe accounts for a tiny fraction of the wealth that we have. Now, whether you like that situation or not, Europe is far more affected than the United States. There is a thing called an ocean between us. Why is that Is we billions and trillions of dollars more money than Europe and you know, they’re the same size, a little bit smaller, but when you add them up they’re the same size economy as the United States and yet Europe is a small fraction of the United States’ number In,” he said.
“I said you have to pay your bills and they all – one stood up, I won’t say who, maybe you have because the papers – the media hated to report on it. But a Prime Minister stood up from one The countries got, you know, a famous meeting of 28 countries without the press, he stood up and he said, does that mean that if we don’t pay our bill… I said, if you don’t pay , so that means you are a criminal? Said, yes I said, if you’re a criminal, we’re not going to protect you,” Trump said.
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