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The Kremlin has praised US President-elect Donald Trump’s opposition to Ukraine firing US-supplied weapons into Russia . Speaking to reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: ‘The statement fully aligns with our position, with our view on the reasons for escalation. It is obvious that Trump understands exactly what is escalating the situation.’
It comes after the incoming US president criticized Ukraine’s use of US supplied missiles in a Time magazine interview published Thursday, suggesting he could alter US policy towards Ukraine.
‘It’s crazy what’s taking place. It’s crazy. I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done,’ Trump said in an interview to mark his being named Time’s Person of the Year.
President Joe Biden last month gave Kyiv the green light to strike Russian territory with US-supplied long-range missiles. The White House cited Russia’s deployment of 15,000 North Korean troops along the battlefront as the main reason why Biden changed his mind.
Trump has said he would like to bring a quick end to the nearly three-year-old war but has been cagey on the details. He told Time he had a ‘very good plan’ to help but that if he reveals it now ‘it becomes almost a worthless plan.’ Pressed on whether he would abandon Ukraine, Trump said: ‘I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.’
The Kremlin’s comments about Trump come after it emerged yesterday that NATO members are urgently discussing raising their defense spending to 3 percent of GDP amid fresh fears over global threats and as Trump threatens to pull out of the alliance upon his return to the White House.
The head of NATO warned yesterday that it will not be prepared for the threats it is set to face from Russia in the coming years if it does not shift to a wartime mindset now. ‘Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation, with Ukraine and with us,’ NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said during a speech in Brussels. ‘We are not ready for what is coming our way in four to five years.’
He said that the time has come for the alliance to ‘turbocharge our defense production and defense spending’, adding that the current security situation is the worst he has seen in his lifetime. Confidential preliminary talks took place this week about raising the alliance’s target rise from 2 percent of of GDP, a measure that could be implemented at its annual summit in the Netherlands in June next year, according to the Financial Times.
President-elect Trump has argued that Europe should pay more for its own defense after he declared that he would consider pulling the US from NATO if targets were not met. During his first presidency, Trump demanded more spending during the 2018 NATO summit, with leaders vowing to meet the 2 per cent benchmark. But the surge in spending only came in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, with non-US NATO members raising their spending by around $100 billion over the last two years as a result.
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