And the former US ambassador to Kyiv, Marie Yovanovitch, said in an interview with the “Insider” website, “(Russian President) Vladimir Putin did not need to launch a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, if Trump was president of America, because the latter was giving his Russian counterpart everything Wants”.
“Putin had a good relationship with Trump, and the former president admired his Russian counterpart and disparaged US allies. He had negative views of NATO and other international alliances,” she added.
Yovanovitch considered that Trump made decisions and made statements beneficial to Russian interests, such as pressing for Russia’s readmission into the Group of Seven industrialized countries.
The former ambassador spoke about the press conference that Putin and Trump held in July 2018 after a bilateral summit in Helsinki, where the former US president said that he “sees no reason for Moscow to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.”
In her memoir entitled “Lessons From the Edge”, Yovanovitch described the press conference and meeting as “disastrous”, and said: “Trump’s statements left observers to think about the level at which the president sank before Putin.”
She indicated in her memoirs that “only God knows the conversation that took place between the two presidents in a closed meeting. The meeting was long and Trump did not inform the American officials of what took place during it.”
Yovanovitch addressed the issue of Trump’s refusal to provide $400 million in military aid to Ukraine, including Javelin anti-tank missiles.
On this point, Yovanovitch explained, “It was clear that the President of the United States was using his position for personal or political benefit, rather than acting in the national security interest, and helping to strengthen the status of a partner nation.”
“Trump’s actions sent a signal to Putin and other strongmen around the world that they can cut deals with this man and manipulate this president,” she concluded.
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