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The specter of Putin casts a shadow over the Trump-Biden debate
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a concert at the Hanoi Opera House in Hanoi on June 20, 2024.
Gavriil Grigorov | Afp | Getty Images
Trump – who has denied allegations that Moscow meddled on his behalf in the 2016 election – said Putin would be deterred from conflict if he respected the leadership of the opposing global superpowers.
“As far as Russia and Ukraine, if we had a real president, a president who knew — who was respected by Putin, he would never — he would never have invaded Ukraine,” Trump said. according to a CNN transcript of the debate.
Dubbing Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “the greatest salesman of all time,” Trump again criticized the extent of U.S. financial support for Kiev during the conflict. Two months ago, Washington approved a foreign aid bill which allocated around $60 billion to the war-torn country.
“I will resolve this war between Putin and Zelenskyy as president-elect before I take office on January 20th. I will resolve this war,” Trump said, without revealing details.
Trump said, however, that Putin’s position latest demands for peace negotiations to begin with – which include the withdrawal of Kiev’s forces from Ukrainian territories illegally annexed by Russia – “are not acceptable.”
In a separate pledge, Trump promised to secure the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in Russia in March 2023 and is now facing trial on espionage charges.
“I’m going to take him out very quickly, as soon as I take office, before I take office,” Trump said, noting that Putin is “probably asking for billions of dollars for the reporter.” The Russian leader had previously signaled interest in a potential prisoner exchange for Gershkovichand not in financial compensation.
Zelenskyy had previously called Trump’s claim that he could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours “very dangerous” and seemed apprehensive about a possible return of the Republican candidate to the White House.
In keeping with frosty relations between the Kremlin and his administration, Biden adopted a more icy tone in characterizing Putin.
“The fact is that Putin is a war criminal. He killed thousands and thousands of people. And he made one thing clear: he wants to reestablish what was part of the Soviet Empire, and not just a part, he wants all of Ukraine,” Biden said . In addition to the four illegal annexations since the 2022 invasion, Russia also previously took control of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
“Do you think he’s going to stop there? Do you think he’s going to stop… if he takes Ukraine? What do you think happens to Poland? What do you think about Belarus? What do you think happens to these NATO countries?” Biden asked.
The prospect of a potential escalation of the conflict into Europe has long underpinned the NATO military alliance’s support for non-member Ukraine, with Finland and Sweden abandoning their long-standing neutrality to join the coalition. Russia, in turn, cited neighboring Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO as a threat to its security and one of the reasons behind its military action.
In response to Trump’s accusations that the lack of respect for Biden from leaders like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, China’s Xi Jinping and Putin will lead the US into “World War III,” the current president retorted: “What happens if, in fact, Putin continues to join NATO? … Attacking one is attacking them all. You want to start the nuclear war he keeps talking about. Go ahead … See what happens then.”
Biden also criticized his opponent’s involvement in the Ukraine war, saying Trump “encouraged [Putin]: do what you want.”
In 2022, Trump praised Putin’s “genius” invasion strategy in Ukraine, characterizing the Kremlin leader as a “guy who is very experienced” and who he “knows very, very well.” NBC News reported.
CNBC has reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries. The Kremlin will not comment on the Biden-Trump debate as it is an internal U.S. matter, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, according to Reuters.
Putin has rarely commented on the fate of the US elections, promising to “work with any US leader”, but he briefly expressed his preference for Biden to take the top job.
″[Biden] is more experienced and more predictable. He is an “old school” politician, he said in February.