Russia praises Trump and criticises Europe

Lavrov said that the United States still wants to be the most powerful state in the world and that Washington and Moscow can never agree on anything, but have agreed to be pragmatic when they have the same interests.

“Donald Trumpi is pragmatist”, Lavrov told the Russian military newspaper Krasnaya Ziesda, according to the transcript published by the Russian Foreign Ministry. “His slogan is the sound reason. That means, as everyone can see, a change in the way things are made”.

However, the goal is still MAGA [Make Great America Again]”, Lavrov said, referring to Trump's political slogan.

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, sending thousands of troops to the neighbouring country and causing the biggest war in Europe since World War II.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine started in 2014, after Ukraine's prorus president fell from power through protests and Russia annexed the Crimea and supported separatist forces in the fight against Ukrainian forces east of the country.

On Friday, Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during their meeting at the White House. European leaders later defended Zelensky.

But Lavrov criticised Europe, saying that in the past 500 years Europe has been a hearth “of all world tragedies”, including colonization, wars, Crusades, the Crime War, Napoleon Bonaparte, World War I and Adolf Hitler.

And now, after [the mandate of the former American president, Joe] Biden, the people who came are guided by healthy reason. They clearly say they want to stop all wars, they want peace”, Lavrov said.

And who's looking for the following banquet in the form of a war? Europe”, he added.

Lavrov also dismissed the European idea of sending a container of European peacekeepers and said Russia does not trust Ukraine after the collapse of Minsk's agreements, which were designed to end the separatist war in eastern Ukraine. /Radio Europe Free