Kremlin comments on Trump’s first presidential term
Relations between Russia and the US were not easy during Donald Trump’s presidency, but the two nations maintained contact, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday.
Peskov was commenting on statements made by Trump in an interview with Bloomberg published on Tuesday. During the interview, Trump said he “got along very well” with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his tenure, adding, “We were never in danger of a war.”
Asked whether he would lift or ease the sanctions on Russia to help settle the Ukraine conflict, Trump did not give a direct answer, saying instead that he does “not love sanctions,” as they are “forcing everyone away from” the US.
The US did “nothing good for Russia under Trump,” Peskov said. He noted that “new restrictions” were imposed at the time, and Russia considers all of the sanctions to be “illegitimate” measures that only “destroy the basis of international economic relations.”
“Still, there was dialogue. That could be counted as a positive element,” Peskov added.
According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the US imposed sanctions on Russia on at least 40 occasions during Trump’s four years in office. Washington also withdrew from a key Cold War-era arms control agreement – the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty – in 2019, leading to its collapse later that year.
Despite the tensions, the two nations maintained dialogue. Trump met with Putin in Helsinki at a summit in 2018, as well as several other occasions throughout his presidency.
Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, has not talked to Putin since the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2022. The last phone call between the two presidents took place in December 2021. Relations between the two nations have since plummeted to their lowest point since the Cold War, according to Moscow.
Last week, Biden said he has “no good reason” to talk with his Russian counterpart, even with regard to the Ukraine conflict. In June, Peskov stated that Russia is ready to hold talks with the US but only if it is “comprehensive” and includes not just Washington’s agenda but also takes Russia’s concerns into account.
