Donald Trump has said those who consider him "a friend of Russia" are "sick," in an interview with controversial far-right commentator Tucker Carlson in Arizona on Oct.31.
"They love to say that I was a friend of Russia. I worked for Russia, I was a Russian spy — these people are sick," he said.
According to journalist Bob Woodward's new book, Trump secretly spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin as many as seven times after he left office.
Trump has repeatedly backed and praised Putin and rarely criticized him. He described Russia's invasion of Ukraine as "genius" and "savvy" in 2022.
Later, Trump blamed President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Joe Biden for Moscow's all-out war.
In 2018, Trump accepted Putin’s denial of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election over an assessment from his own intelligence services.
The interview with Carlson comes less than a week before the U.S. presidential election, when Trump will face the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
On the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly said he could end Russia's war within 24 hours if elected president, without elaborating on how he plans to achieve it.
A recent article by the Financial Times (FT) claims that Trump aims to effectively freeze the war and reject Ukraine's NATO membership in the foreseeable future, at least "until Putin leaves the stage."
In an interview with Carlson, Trump claimed actions he took related to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline showed he wasn't friendly with Russia.
Under Trump, the U.S. government imposed sanctions against Russian companies and the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
"I killed. Nobody would kill it but me. I stopped it," Trump claimed.
Chris York
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