‘Can understand Russia’s feelings’ about Ukraine’s NATO aspirations: Trump

Washington, Jan 8 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA):- US President-elect Donald Trump has said that he can “understand the Russians’ feelings” about President Joe Biden allegedly breaking a “deal” to deny Ukraine NATO membership.

The incoming US President once again blamed the Biden administration for the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Discussing the causes of the war, Trump said that the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO had been “a major issue for Russia for many, many years”.

“You know, a big part of the problem was Russia for many, many years, long before (Russian President, Vladimir) Putin said, you could never have NATO involved with Ukraine. Now they’ve said … that’s been like written in stone. Somewhere along the line (US President Joe) Biden said no, they should be able to join NATO. Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep and I could understand their feeling about that,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

“There were a lot of mistakes made in that negotiation. When I heard the way that Biden was negotiating, I said you’re going to end up in a war and it turned out to be a very bad war. That war could escalate to be much worse than it is right now,” he said in response to a question.

Trump has previously argued that Biden should not have promised Ukraine NATO membership, claiming this was a reason for Russia starting its full-scale war.

Earlier, Trump insisted that he would “not abandon Ukraine” in his efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war.

“My view is that it was always understood. In fact, I believe that they had a deal and then Biden broke it. They had a deal which would have been a satisfactory deal to Ukraine and everybody else. But Biden said, no, you have to be able to join NATO.”

“That’s always been, and nobody knows more about NATO than I. You know, years ago when I first started this, I didn’t know too much about NATO, but I got it right anyway,” he said.

Ukraine now wants to be a NATO member.

In 2008, Nato had expressed support for Ukraine joining the bloc. However, NATO has not yet extended its membership to Ukraine.

Trump also told reporters that he wants NATO members to contribute five per cent of their GDP.

“Nato should have five per cent,” he said.

“Well, you can’t do it at two. I mean at two per cent, if you’re going to have a country and a regular military, you’re at four per cent. I think they’re in dangerous territory. They can all afford it, but they should be at five per cent, not two per cent. I’m the one that got him to pay two per cent,” he added.

“They’re taking advantage. I’m the one that got, and the (NATO) Secretary General was here two weeks ago, saying that if it weren’t for me, NATO wouldn’t even exist right now. Because I was raised, in countries that weren’t paying their bills, at that time 28 countries, 20 of them were not paying their bills, 21 to be exact,” he asserted.

“They weren’t paying or they were paying a very small portion, and I raised over $680 billion, that was the number he gave, by saying, if you don’t pay, we’re not going to protect you. As soon as I said that, the money came pouring in. But Obama could have said it, other people could have said it, Bush could have said it. Nobody said it but me. I took a lot of heat,” he said.

“They said, that’s a threatening statement. Well, they weren’t paying their bills. I said we’re not going to protect you if you’re not paying the bills. So, in a true sense, I saved NATO, but NATO has taken advantage of us. And one of the problems that I have, and I’ve said it openly, I said it to Ukrainian President Zelensky,” Trump said.

“Europe is in for a tiny fraction of the money that we’re in. Now, whether you like that situation or not, Europe is much more affected than the United States. We have a thing called the ocean in between us. Why are we in for billions and billions of dollars more money than Europe? And you know, they’re a similar size, a little smaller, but they’re a similar size economy as the United States when you add them up. And yet Europe is in for a small fraction of the number the United States is in,” he added.

“I said you have to pay your bills and they all — one stood up, I won’t say who, you’ll probably have it because the papers — the media hated to report on it. But a Prime Minister stood up from a country, you know, a famous meeting of 28 nations with no press, he stood up and he says, does that mean if we don’t pay our bill… I said, if you don’t pay, you mean you’re delinquent? He said, yes. I said, if you’re delinquent, we will not protect you,” Trump added.