Putin name-checks Trump at BRICS summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin name-checked former President Trump at this week’s BRICS summit and seemingly welcomed the Republican nominee’s desire to end the Russian-Ukraine war. 

“What Mr. Trump said recently, what I heard, [is] he spoke about the desire to do everything to end the conflict in Ukraine,” Putin said during a Thursday news conference, according to The Associated Press (AP). 

“It seems to me that he said it sincerely,” he added. “We certainly welcome statements of this kind, no matter who makes them.”

Putin’s remarks at the BRICS summit, a three-day event held in Kazan, Russia, and attended by representatives of 36 countries, comes after Trump suggested last month that he could help broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine that would end the conflict that has raged for more than two-and-half years.

The former president, who has voiced skepticism of U.S. aid to Ukraine, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in late September at the Trump Tower in New York City, where the two discussed, in part, ending the war.

“We’re going to work very much with both parties to try and get this settled,” Trump told reporters, with Zelensky standing alongside him. 

“We have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship — as you know — with President Putin. And I think if we win, I think we’re going to get it resolved very quickly,” Trump added before sitting down for talks with the war-torn country’s president. 

“I hope we have more good relations,” Zelensky chimed in.

“Oh, I see,” Trump said in response. 

“But it takes two to tango, you know,” the ex-president added. “And we’re going to have a good meeting today. And I think the fact that we’re even together today is a very good sign.”

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who has also expressed skepticism regarding U.S. aid to Ukraine, touched on a plan that he and his boss say would end the war in Eastern Europe. 

Vance said on a “Shawn Ryan Show” podcast episode that Trump would gather with Ukrainians, Russian officials and Europeans and tell them “you guys need to figure out what a peaceful settlement looks like.” 

The senator then described the peace plan, in his view, where a demilitarized zone would be established along the current battle lines. The Kremlin would keep the territory they had taken while the rest of Ukraine would be independent.

“It doesn’t join NATO, it doesn’t join some of these sort of allied institutions,” Vance said on the podcast. “I think that’s ultimately what this looks like.”