The end of the Shanghai Organization summit in Astana, where the war in Ukraine was discussed. Present on site, Russian President Vladimir Putin took the opportunity to emphasize, Thursday, July 4, his interest in Donald Trump in the question of the Ukrainian issue. He also took a further step towards the normalization of relations with the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
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From our correspondent in Moscow,
Asking the Russian authorities what they think about the American elections is always, officially, met with a refusal. Even on the last debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the Kremlin spokesman, had these words: ” This is an internal issue in the United States. We are facing many issues that are really important to our country. I don’t think you would expect the Russian president to set an alarm to wake up early and follow the debates in UNITED STATES “.
Except that obviously, each event is scrutinized with a magnifying glass and, this time, the Kremlin has decided to assume its preference. To the question posed in Astana by the very legitimist daily Rossiskaya Gazeta ” What do you think about Donald Trump’s statement that he can stop the war by Ukraine ? “, This is what Vladimir Putin replied:
“ The fact that Donald Trump, as a presidential candidate, says that he is ready and wants to stop the war in Ukraine, that is something that we take very seriously. I am not familiar with his specific proposals on how he plans to do that. And that, of course, is the key question. But I have no doubt that he sincerely means it, and that is something that we support. »
These statements come as Hungary has just taken over the presidency of the European Union. The leading supporter of Donald Trump in Europe, Viktor Orban made a surprise visit to kyiv 24 hours ago. The Hungarian Prime Minister called on Volodymyr Zelensky to consider a ceasefire. The Ukrainian President insisted on the importance of a ” just peace ” for his country.
Could the Hungarian Prime Minister be on his way to another surprise visit, this time to Moscow? In any case, several European leaders have expressed their surprise, such as Donald Tusk on X (formerly Twitter).
Or as Charles Michel warned: “ The rotating EU presidency has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU […] No discussion on Ukraine can take place without Ukraine. »
“The Taliban are our allies in the fight against terrorism”
Vladimir Putin has also taken another step towards normalizing the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Russian diplomacy has already repeatedly talked about removing the Taliban from its official list of terrorist movements. This is still not the case, although Taliban delegations often visit Russia. In June, they were present at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, as well as at the BRICS Education Ministers’ Forum.
” The Taliban movement has assumed certain obligations and certain issues require constant attention both within the country and from the international community. “, the Russian president said. But in general, we must proceed from the premise that the Taliban control the power in the country. In this sense, the Taliban are, of course, allies for us in the fight against terrorism, because any government in power is interested in the stability of its power and the stability of the state, which it leads. I am sure that the Taliban also want everything in Afghanistan to be stable, calm and subject to certain rules. We have received signals from the Taliban that they are ready to work with us on the path of fighting terrorism. »
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia suggested on Monday that Moscow was considering rolling back its sanctions against the Taliban, which has been in power in Afghanistan since 2021 but is not recognised by the international community.