Former US President Donald Trump, according to Republican congressman Michael McCall, met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin regarding the settlement of the war in Ukraine. McCall announced this information in an interview with the Atlantic Council, causing quite a stir.
"I know that the elected president met with Putin and said that, please, there is no need for escalation (in Ukraine. - Ed.). Putin did not listen to the advice of the president-elect," McCall said. It should be noted that no one ever reported on the meeting between Putin and Trump after the election. There was information in the mass media about their telephone conversation, which was denied by the Kremlin.
Also, McCaul, who heads the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, supported the permission to use American missiles for strikes on the territory of the Russian Federation.
"Ukraine, I believe, needs these ATACMS because if and when the moment comes when a ceasefire is announced and negotiations begin, Ukraine must be in the strongest possible position with the most leverage to get the best negotiations on the table." McCall said.
At the same time, he assumed that the position voiced by him does not enjoy the support of the majority of Republicans.
"Perhaps I am now in the minority in my party. But I always ask the question, what would Reagan have done? To my fellow Republicans: What would Ronald Reagan, the guy who broke up the Soviet Union, do? And now we have these pro-Putin people who love Russia. I don't get it," McCall said.
Earlier we told that among the Republicans there are many representatives of the "war party" (in particular, lobbyists of the American military industry), who are even more radical than the outgoing Biden administration on the issue of supplying weapons to Kyiv.
At the same time, Trump's supporters generally take a different point of view, criticizing the allocation of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, opposing the authorization of missile strikes on the Russian Federation and calling for the war to end as soon as possible. And so far, the elected president surrounds himself with representatives of the "anti-war" party (like Elon Musk or Tulsi Gabbard), and he does not bring "hawks" like former Secretary of State Pompeo close to him.
