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DONALD Trump would “love” to have Russia back in the Group of Seven (G7) nations despite them being expelled over a decade ago.
The Republican said he now trusts Vladimir Putin following on from their historic phone call but Ukraine‘s Volodymyr Zelensky has urged world leaders to stay wary of the tyrant.
EPA
AFP
Vladimir Putin and Moscow was suspended from the powerful G7, then known as the G8, in 2014 after stealing Crimea away from Ukraine.
Trump, who held a historic phone call with Putin on Thursday, described the decision to ban Moscow from the group as a “mistake”.
Russia was the final member to be added to the club of industrialised democracies when they joined in 1997.
But they were indefinitely expelled less than three decades after due to Putin’s widely condemned choice to invade the Crimean Peninsula.
Speaking today in the Oval Office, Trump spoke on a potential return for Russia to the G7.
He said: “I’d love to have them back. I think it was a mistake to throw them out.
“Look, it’s not a question of liking Russia or not liking Russia. It was the G8.
“I said, ‘What are you doing? You guys – all you’re talking about is Russia and they should be sitting at the table.”
He added that Putin “would love to be back”.
Trump has also said he wants to speak with China‘s Xi and Russia’s Putin about “denuclearising” all three countries.
The Republican said he had been in talks with the leaders during his first term in office about halting the production of nukes.
He claimed the world already has too many destructive nuclear weapons.
President Trump was asked by reporters in The White House about the reaction to his calls with both Moscow and Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Zelensky said Trump speaking to tyrant Putin first wasn’t “very pleasant” to hear for the people of Ukraine.
But Trump responded by telling Zelensky they will definitely have a seat at the negotiating table alongside Moscow so all is fair.
He said the reason why Putin was phoned first was because Russia needs to be open to making a deal.
Ukraine has already confirmed they are ready to sit down and talk leaving the Kremlin as the only other party left to be persuaded, Trump said.
Despite Trump feeling confident he can get a deal done between Kyiv and Moscow due to the two conversations, Ukraine is still unsure.
Zelensky has spent the past few hours speaking with other world leaders from Poland’s Donald Tusk to Spain’s Pedro Sanchez.
The heroic Ukrainian President took to X after a meeting with Poland’s Prime Minister as he said he was “warned world leaders against trusting Putin’s claims of readiness to end the war”.
EPA
AP
AP
English (US)