All posts tagged "Vladimir Putin"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tore into President Donald Trump over a newly struck agreement he warned will bankroll Russia's war against his country.

Zelenskyy told Axios in a phone interview Friday that Trump's move to let Russia sell its diesel on world markets was "not fair and not honest." He went further in a voice memo sent to reporters the same day, branding the deal a "weak decision" and accusing Trump of using Ukraine's negotiators "as a smokescreen," according to the Financial Times.

"You know, it looks like a happy birthday present for Putin," Zelenskyy told Axios, pointing to the Russian leader's birthday earlier this week. "It looks absolutely terrible."...

Fareed Zakaria raked President Donald Trump over the coals in The Washington Post Friday for his "dangerous fantasy" that he can still negotiate rationally with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

There is no placating Putin, said Zakaria; he only wants the destruction of America, and he has proven this time and time again.

"It is worth recalling a lesson about Putin learned by another businessman turned government official — Hank Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs. As treasury secretary, Paulson visited Beijing for the Olympics in August 2008, just as the global financial crisis was gathering force and markets were increasingly worried about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant institutions that guarantee most mortgages in the United States." When he arrived, he learned that Putin's government actually proposed Russia and China "dump large quantities of Fannie and Freddie securities" to destabilize them further — a plan China didn't indulge....

Comments by Jared Kushner about a possible "win-win" situation for Ukraine and Russia were slammed by an appalled national security expert.

During a Monday appearance on CNN, Alex Plitsas responded to Kushner's idea that Russia can get a win out of the war in Ukraine without infringing on territorial rights and sovereignty. Kushner suggested a "win-win" outcome while meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday as part of President Donald Trump's envoy, along with Steve Witkoff, to Ukraine and Russia.

"The sound bites that came out of Kyiv and Moscow from this trip, I'm sorry, were nothing short of embarrassing for the United States and were absolutely abhorrent," Plitsas said. "The idea that we should give in to Vladimir Putin's aspirations as part of this is absurd."...

President Donald Trump's envoy sparked outrage for "sucking up" to Russian leader Vladimir Putin with plans to reminisce about their meeting.

On Saturday, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow to meet with Putin and negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. At one point during their meeting, Witkoff told Putin that their meeting would be a special memory later in life.

"President Putin, thank you so much for having us. We were sitting outside just now," Witkoff said, referring to himself, Kushner and their Russian counterparts. "We were talking about, when we retire, we'll have all these incredible stories and memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all."...

President Donald Trump's ideal authoritarian blueprint has appeared to lose traction while he and other autocrats have started losing their grip on power, former Republican strategist Rick Wilson warned on Monday.

In Wilson's Substack, he described how Trump has long admired autocrats Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose political future has come into question just ahead of the upcoming election in the eastern European country.

Orbán, a longtime antagonist to the European Union, was viewed as a model by Trump and his political operatives. But now, he has started facing opposition in his country in a push by young voters in Hungary, according to The Associated Press. ...

President Donald Trump made the one move that American presidents before him have been trying to avoid for years.

Trump's decision to target Iran in joint military strikes with Israel has thrown the United States into the midst of a conflict with not just the Iranian regime, but also Russia, according to The Swamp, The Daily Beast's Substack.

"Donald Trump is being drawn into the kind of proxy war with Russia that his predecessors have been trying to avoid since the Bay of Pigs," The Swamp reported....