Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Timeline of Trump's alliance with Russia

 From the Guardian / Yahoo!News (read the entire article):

"How Trump is driving US towards Russia – a timeline of the president’s moves

Léonie Chao-Fong in Washington
12 February: Trump-Putin call to begin negotiations on ending war
12 February – rules out Nato membership for Ukraine

On the same day as the Putin-Trump call, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out Nato membership for Ukraine.

Hegseth, speaking at a summit in Brussels, said it was “unrealistic” for Ukraine to expect to return to its pre-2014 borders, and insisted that any peace agreement would have to be secured by “capable European and non-European troops”, whom he stressed would not come from the US.

14 February – ignores Ukraine war to attack European allies in Munich speech

European leaders were stunned when US vice-president JD Vance launched a blistering ideological attack on Washington’s allies and questioned whether the US and Europe any longer had a shared agenda...

18 February – holds talks to agree on improving diplomatic relations

Top US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to hold their most extensive high-level talks since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, during which they agreed to work towards ending the war and improving US-Russian diplomatic and economic ties... 

No Ukrainian or European officials were present at the meeting.

19 February – blames Kyiv for starting the war, calls for elections in Ukraine

Trump appeared to blame Kyiv for Moscow’s invasion and said he was “disappointed” that Zelenskyy complained about being left out of US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia.

Trump also pressured Zelenskyy to hold elections – echoing one of Moscow’s key demands. Under Ukraine’s constitution, elections are suspended while martial law is in force.

24 February – votes with Russia in the UN resolutions

In a dramatic shift in transatlantic relations, the US split with its European allies and sided with Russia in votes at the United Nations to mark the third anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The US joined Russia, Belarus and North Korea in voting against a European-drafted UN general assembly resolution condemning Russia’s actions and supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity... 

The US then drafted and voted for a resolution in the UN security council which called for a “swift end to the conflict”, but contained no criticism of Russia. The Kremlin praised Washington for its “much more balanced” stance and backed the resolution.

28 February – publicly berates Zelenskyy in the Oval Office

In an Oval Office meeting that will surely remembered as one of the greatest diplomatic disasters in modern history, Trump and Vance teamed up to openly berate and humiliate Zelenskyy in front of the world’s cameras...

Russian officials reacted with glee to the extraordinary scenes.

1 March – retreats from fight against Russian cyber threats

...Analysts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have been instructed not to follow or report on Russian threats, even though this had previously been a main focus for the agency.

3 and 5 March: suspends US military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine

Shortly after the Oval Office blow-up, the Trump administration suspended delivery of all US military aid and stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, part of a pressure campaign to force Kyiv to cooperate with the White House’s plans to negotiate a peace deal with Russia...

The Trump administration was also reported to be drawing up a plan to restore ties with Russia and lift sanctions on the Kremlin, as part of the administration’s broad talks with Moscow on improving diplomatic and economic relations.

7 March – says it’s ‘easier’ to work with Moscow than Kyiv

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine, Trump said he finds it “easier” to work with Russia than Ukraine and that Putin “wants to end the war”.

“I believe him,” Trump said when asked if he believed Putin still wanted peace. “I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine. They don’t have the cards.” He added that he has “always had a good relationship” with Putin.

Asked if the Russian leader was taking advantage of the pause in US intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine, Trump replied: “I think he’s doing what anyone else would do.”

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