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Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have agreed to meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. What do we know about the relationship between the US and Russian presidents?
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TRUMP ON PUTIN
Trump has a history of positive and admiring comments about Putin that have long prompted criticism that he is “soft on Russia”
He rejects that, saying that no US president was ever tougher on Moscow
Trump has called Putin a strong and smart leader and has said he “got along great” with him during his first term in the White House
Since the start of his second term, however, Trump has criticised Putin’s conduct of the “ridiculous” Ukraine war and said the conflict is “destroying” Russia
Putin “can’t be thrilled, he’s not doing so well,” Trump told reporters on January 20
“Russia is bigger, they have more soldiers to lose, but that’s no way to run a country”
Trump has threatened more sanctions and tariffs on Russia if Putin doesn’t agree to end the war.
PUTIN ON TRUMP
Putin said last month he had always had “pragmatic and trusting” relations with Trump
The Russian president voiced support for Trump’s false claim that he, not Joe Biden, was the real winner of the 2020 US presidential election
Putin has spoken admiringly of Trump’s courage when a gunman tried to assassinate him last year, saying he behaved like a “real man”
DOES PUTIN HAVE COMPROMISING MATERIAL ON TRUMP?
Speculation that Putin might have some kind of hold over Trump, and be in a position to blackmail him, was fanned by the emergence in 2017 of a document known as the “Steele dossier”, prepared by a business intelligence company led by a former British spy
It suggested, among other things, that Russia might have collected lurid details of an alleged interaction with prostitutes during a 2013 visit that Trump made to Moscow
Trump said the dossier was “fake news” that was circulated by opponents to damage him
Many of its claims were never substantiated, and Trump’s lawyers have said it was “egregiously inaccurate” and contained “numerous false, phoney or made-up allegations”
At the Helsinki summit, Putin was asked directly whether Russia had any “compromising material” on Trump or his family. Putin said he had not been aware of Trump’s Moscow trip and it was “utter nonsense” to suppose that Russia gathered dirt on every senior American businessman who came to Russia
Australian Associated Press
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