Donald Trump wants to stop World War Three and we welcome that, says Vladimir Putin
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Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump as he was becoming US president on Monday and said he backed his aim to avoid “World War Three”. The Russian president said he was open to dialogue with the new US administration on Ukraine and nuclear arms.
“We see the statements by the newly elected president of the United States and members of his team about the desire to restore direct contacts with Russia,” said Putin shortly before Trump’s inauguration and return to the White House. “We also hear his statement about the need to do everything possible to prevent World War Three. We of course welcome this attitude and congratulate the elected president of the United States of America on taking office.”.
Putin, who said he wanted to secure a long-lasting peace in Ukraine rather than a short ceasefire, made the comments during a meeting of Russia’s Security Council that was shown on state TV. However, doubts remain in the West over whether the Russian president is really prepared to scale back his aims in Ukraine in order to get a peace deal, with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy saying there was no evidence of this so far.
Mr Lammy also stressed that Trump is no “warmonger” and signalled that Sir Keir Starmer will fly to Washington within weeks for White House talks. The new president has claimed he could end the Ukraine conflict in a day, though, his administration has now pushed this back to a 100-day timeline.
Putin’s remarks reflect cautious hopes in Russia that Trump may be able to begin to repair ties between Washington and Moscow, which have fallen to their lowest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, even as many Russian government officials publicly say they realise that such hopes may come to nothing.
