Some people are trying to portray US President-elect Donald Trump as pro-Russian, but one should not forget the large number of anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the US during his first term. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson.
Lavrov said that he saw Trump several times when he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The American leader also hosted the minister twice in the Oval Office when Lavrov came for bilateral talks. The foreign minister was impressed by Trump as a ‘strong man’ who is eager to achieve results and does not like to put things off.
‘He is quite friendly in conversation. However, this does not mean that Donald Trump is pro-Russian. Some people try to portray him as such. The number of anti-Russian sanctions imposed under Donald Trump’s administration was very large,’ Lavrov said.
The minister added that Russia respects the choice of the American people. He also recalled Putin’s words that Moscow is and has always been open for contacts with the US presidential administration.
We will see everything when Donald Trump takes office. As Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin said, ‘the ball is on their side’. We have never interrupted our contacts, ties in the sphere of economy, trade, security and so on,’ Lavrov concluded.
The US presidential election took place in early November. Trump, who won the election, said he had ‘good relations’ with Putin, whom he called a ‘world-class chess player.’ Meanwhile, during his first term, the US imposed a slew of sanctions on Russia, particularly over the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.
During the current election race, one of the key promises made by the Republican was to quickly end the conflict in Ukraine. And while Trump’s advisers have shown no interest in urging Kyiv to invite him to NATO, they have supported the current Joe Biden administration’s efforts to expedite arms deliveries to Kyiv because it would give Trump ‘leverage with Moscow in negotiations’ to resolve the conflict, WSJ sources said.
Trump’s inauguration will take place on 20 January.