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Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday questioned whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would have ordered additional troops into Ukraine during his time in office and criticized President Joe Biden’s initial sanctions.
“If properly handled, there was absolutely no reason that the situation currently happening in Ukraine should have happened at all,” Trump said in a statement. “I know Vladimir Putin very well, and he would have never done during the Trump Administration what he is doing now, no way!”
Trump also expressed outrage over Russia “taking over a country and a massive piece of strategically located land,” a stark contrast to some of his past comments that downplayed Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory.
“We’ll see what Russia does,” Trump told reporters in 2018 when asked if he would recognize Russia’s seizure of Crimea just before a summit with Putin. As a presidential candidate, Trump went so far as to suggest in 2016 that Ukrainian people in Crimea “would rather be with Russia,” echoing a key plank of the Kremlin’s talking points.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later issued a formal declaration in July 2018 that the US would not recognize Russia’s claim to Crimea.
The Washington Post reported in 2019 that Trump suggested to top US officials that Ukraine was “not a real country” and was far more concerned about conspiracy theories about Ukrainian officials hurting his 2016 presidential campaign than Russia’s ongoing occupation. Putin has repeatedly suggested that Ukraine is not an actual country, and has referred to Ukrainians and Russians as “one people.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-slams-bidens-weak-sanctions-on-russia-putin-2022-2