Former US President Donald Trump has praised Russia’s Vladimir Putin for his strategy in eastern Ukraine, arguing that the Russian leader outmaneuvered Joe Biden by declaring the breakaway republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) to be sovereign states.
“I went in yesterday, and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius,’” Trump told radio host Buck Sexton in an interview on Tuesday. “Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine – of Ukraine – Putin declares it as independent.” He added sardonically, “Oh, that’s wonderful.”
Trump was referring to Putin’s announcement on Monday that Russia would immediately recognize the sovereignty of the DPR and LPR, which declared their independence after a US-backed overthrow of Ukraine’s elected leadership in 2014. The Russian president followed that decision by getting parliamentary approval on Tuesday to send Russian forces into the Donbass as peacekeepers for the DPR and LPR. However, he later clarified that the authorization did not mean Russian troops would be deployed to the republics immediately.