Russian President Vladimir Putin personally congratulated Donald Trump on his victory

Russian President Vladimir Putin finally personally congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the United States (US) presidential election last Tuesday. Putin said this when the US and Russia were still at odds over the war in Ukraine.
In his first public remarks since Trump’s victory, Putin said the Republican presidential nominee had acted like a real man in an assassination attempt on him at a campaign event in Pennsylvania in July. He called Trump brave.

“In my opinion, he behaved in a very correct, courageous way, like a real man. I take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election,” Putin said at the Valdai discussion club in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday (8/11/2024), as quoted by Reuters.

Putin said Trump’s statements during the election campaign about Ukraine and rapprochement with Russia deserve attention. However, he did not spell out his clear position on Trump’s statements on Ukraine.

However, when asked what he would do if Trump called to propose a meeting, Putin said he was ready to continue contacts and discussions if the Trump administration wanted it.

“What is said about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, at least deserves attention,” Putin added.

Trump said during the campaign that he could bring peace to Ukraine within 24 hours if elected, but he has not provided many details about how he would try to end Europe’s largest ground war since World War II.

Meanwhile, Trump himself has often been accused of being a Russian agent. Several Moscow officials have confronted these allegations, saying that during Trump’s presidency from 2017 to 2021, Trump took many tough stances against the White Bear Country.

Moscow has also repeatedly denied US claims that Russia interfered in the 2024 presidential election, calling allegations that Russia spread a disinformation campaign in the US election mere rumors.

Ukrainian War

Ukraine’s 2-1/2-year-old war is entering what some Russian and Western officials say could be its final phase, with Moscow’s forces advancing at their fastest pace since the early weeks of the conflict.

Putin on June 14 set out his terms for ending the war: Ukraine must abandon its NATO membership ambitions and withdraw all its troops from all four regions claimed by Russia.

For your information, Russia controls Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and also about 80% of Donbas, which consists of the administrative regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Not only that, Moscow has also controlled more than 70% of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Speaking for several hours on Thursday, Putin slammed the “adventurism” of Western leaders who he accused of pushing the world to a “dangerous line” by seeking to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia in Ukraine.

“There is no point in putting pressure on us. However, we are always ready to negotiate taking into account our legitimate common interests,” Putin said, seconds after rebuking the West for promising Ukraine and Georgia NATO membership in 2008.

Putin also said the West has never accepted Russia as an equal partner since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. He also accused the West of treating it as a defeated power and expanding the US-led NATO military alliance eastward toward Russia.

“Russia is ready to restore relations with the US, but the decision is up to Washington. So far, China is Russia’s ally,” he stressed.