Moscow has brushed off a shift in tone from Donald Trump, who suggested Ukraine could win back all its territory from Russia, which the US president said was a weak “paper tiger” in dire economic trouble,
The Guardian reports.
Trump’s comments, in which he also said Russia had been “fighting aimlessly for three and a half years”, were in contrast to the red-carpet treatment he laid out for Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska last month.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, attributed the comments to the fact Trump had just met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York.
In an interview with RBC radio, Peskov said: “Of course, President Trump heard Zelenskyy’s version of events. And apparently at this point, this version is the reason for the assessment we heard.”
Trump has a history of repeating information that the last world leader has told him during meetings, and often changes his position later.
Peskov said the Russian army was making gains in Ukraine, albeit slowly. Putin “has repeatedly stated this – we are moving forward very carefully to minimise losses … These are very deliberate actions,” he said.
Peskov dismissed the description of Russia as a “paper tiger”, saying his country was a bear, the national animal. “Russia maintains its resilience. Russia maintains macroeconomic stability,” he said.
In later statements, the Kremlin said the war was not aimless, and it appeared to attempt to placate Trump by saying the process of restoring relations between Russia and the US was proceeding “much more slowly than desired”.
