Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday during a joint press conference with President Donald Trump in Alaska that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could have been avoided if Trump had been in office.
After negotiations between the leaders on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, the two spoke with reporters about their potential peace deal. During his remarks, Putin noted that he had attempted to warn former President Joe Biden in 2022 that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia “should not be brought to the point of no return.” (RELATED: Trump And Putin Hold Joint Press Conference After Big Alaska Summit)
“In the end, I would like to add one more thing. I would like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities,” Putin said. “I said it quite directly back then, that it’s a big mistake.”
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“Today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the President back then, there would be no war, and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so. I can confirm that. I think that overall, me and President Trump have built a very good business-like and trustworthy contact, and I have every reason to believe that moving down this path, we can come at the summit back to the end of the conflict in Ukraine.”
While the Russia-Ukraine conflict initially began under Obama’s administration, a full-scale war between the two countries broke out in February 2022 under Biden’s leadership.
In the lead-up to the war, Biden issued a series of sanctions against two Russian banks and Russian debt. The former president also signed an executive order prohibiting U.S. individuals from new investment, trade, or financing in “the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine.”
Biden’s response came after Putin recognized two separatist-controlled Ukrainian territories.
A day before Russia officially struck Kyiv, Biden announced that he would allow economic sanctions to be reimposed on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, vowing to “take further steps if Russia continues to escalate.” In addition to the sanctions, Biden condemned Russia for invading Ukraine, stating that the U.S. “and its allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way.”
“The world will hold Russia accountable,” Biden said at the time.
However, Putin quickly responded, issuing a stark warning to the U.S., presumably Biden and NATO, that Russia’s response to threats or impediments would be “immediate” and “lead to consequences you have never seen in history.”
Under Biden’s administration the U.S. spent billions in aid since 2022 to support Ukraine in its fight.
During his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to bring peace to conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine war, repeatedly stating that if he had been in office instead of Biden, the issue would not have broken out. Despite the meeting between Trump and Putin on Friday, no official agreement has been announced, with Trump stating, “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
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