US President Donald Trump tells Russian President Vladimir Putin don’t test missiles, end the Ukraine war
US President Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin should end the war in Ukraine instead of testing nuclear missiles and that the US has a nuclear submarine off the Russian coast.
Mr Putin said on Sunday that Russia had successfully tested the nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile, which he said could penetrate any defensive shield, and would move towards deploying the weapon.
Russia said the 9M730 Burevestnik (Storm Bird) flew for 14,000 km.
Asked about the test of the missile, called SSC-X-9 Skyfall by the NATO military alliance, on Air Force One, Trump said that the United States did not need to fly very far because it had a nuclear submarine off the coast of Russia.
“They know we have the world’s largest nuclear submarine off their coast, so it doesn’t need to go 8,000 miles,” Mr. Trump told reporters, according to an audio file released by the White House.
“By the way, I do not find it right for Putin to say: You must end the war, the war, which was supposed to last a week, has now entered its fourth year, you should do this instead of testing missiles.”
Since first announcing the 9M730 Burevestnik in 2018, Putin has used the weapon in response to moves to build a missile defense shield and expand NATO following the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001.
Asked about Mr. Trump’s remarks, the Kremlin said Russia would act in its national interests but saw no reason why the missile test would strain relations with the White House.
“Despite all our openness to dialogue with the United States, Russia and the Russian President are guided, first of all, by our own national interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“So it was, so it is, and so it shall be.”
The Kremlin said Russia ensures its own security by developing new weapons.
“There is nothing here that can and will strain relations between Moscow and Washington,” Peskov said.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly talked about moving U.S. submarines to Russia’s coast following comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the risk of war between nuclear-armed foes.
It is rare for either side to publicly discuss the location of nuclear-armed submarines.
Speaking about Russia’s missile test, Trump said, “We test missiles all the time.”
“They don’t play games with us, we don’t play games with them,” Mr. Trump said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expects his allies to present a concise peace proposal to end the war in the coming days, US news outlet Axios reported on Monday.
In an interview on Sunday, Zelensky said the “coalition of the willing” – a loose alliance of 35 countries led by Britain and France – would try to find “some quick points” in the “next week or 10 days.”
However, the Ukrainian president expressed doubts that Putin would be ready to accept the deal.
with DPA
