Trump and Putin use each other for personal gain — Ukrainian diplomat

Diplomat and former Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs (2007–2009), head of the Center for Russian Studies, Volodymyr Ohryzko, shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

“It seems to me that Trump and Putin are currently using each other to their advantage. Let me explain briefly. Look at what Putin understands about Trump: that he is a person who lives by completely different standards than the civilized world. He doesn’t care about rules, international law, or anything. Like a bull in a china shop, he does whatever benefits him at the moment. If he wants to raise tariffs by 150%, he does it. If he wants to announce that he wants to annex a country, he proclaims it, well, thankfully, he hasn’t actually annexed it yet, and so on,” he said.

Volodymyr Ohryzko noted that U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin are mentally very close to each other.

“And here’s what Putin thinks: ‘Yes, I’ll offer this guy, who wants to look powerful and important, a little something to buy from me.’ What he means is: ‘I (Putin) will offer him (Trump) that we make economic deals worth 10 trillion dollars.’ And Trump thinks: ‘God, that’s perfect. This guy is offering me a deal where I can tell Americans we’ll make 10 trillion dollars on Russia, so I can sell it in America and be a hero again,’” the diplomat said.

At the same time, in his view, Donald Trump understands that these hypothetical trillions will never materialize, but that doesn’t matter to him.

“What matters to him in that moment is to say: ‘I’m a hero.’ And Putin, realizing that Trump is meeting him halfway, says: ‘Dear Donald Fredovich, in return for this favor, you’ll say you won’t impose sanctions on me.’ And both of them, so to speak, come out as winners. And both are quite pleased. They both say: ‘This is great, we’ll keep working together.’ That’s when you see things like congratulations on a new grandchild and praise for a wonderful wife, what can only be called servile flattery. As for who’s bigger or smaller here, there’s nothing to even discuss. Russia’s share of global GDP is 1.1 or 1.2 percent. The U.S. has about 20 times more,” noted Volodymyr Ohryzko.

• On May 19, U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Trump stated that Russia and Ukraine would immediately begin negotiations to cease fire and end the war. The U.S. president also spoke with President Zelenskyy.