“If properly handled, there was absolutely no reason that the situation currently happening in Ukraine should have happened at all. I know Vladimir Putin very well, and he would have never done during the Trump administration what he is doing now, no way!” Trump said in a statement.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics (DPR and LPR) and also signed treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with them. The Russian parliament ratified the documents on Tuesday.
Several Western countries and European Union officials have threatened to impose new sanctions against Russia, while the United Kingdom sanctioned five Russian banks and three businesspeople earlier in the day.
Trump has accused the Biden administration of making Russia “very very rich” because of high oil prices.
“The weak sanctions are insignificant relative to taking over a country and a massive piece of strategically located land. Now it has begun, oil prices are going higher and higher, and Putin is not only getting what he always wanted, but getting, because of the oil and gas surge, richer and richer,” he said.
Trump noted that the United States was energy independent under his administration and maintained low oil prices.
Russia’s decision to recognize DPR and LPR followed a deterioration of the situation on the line of contact between Ukraine and the breakaway republics. Russia has repeatedly denied having any intention of invading Ukraine.