Former President Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin is “somewhat weakened” after the Wagner private army briefly rebelled against him, though he argued that the leader is “still strong.”
“You could say that (Putin is) still there, he’s still strong, but he certainly has been — I would say — somewhat weakened, at least in the minds of a lot of people,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.
Last week, Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin led his troops from the front lines of Ukraine into Russia and vowed to take down Russian military leadership. After negotiating a peace, Prigozhin agreed to stand down and move his forces to Belarus.
The episode raised serious questions about whether Putin has an iron grip on the political and military leadership of his country. There are also questions about Prigozhin’s future, with the president of Belarus claiming that he had convinced Putin not to kill Prigozhin.
That outcome was the best scenario, Trump argued, as without Putin, “You don’t know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be far worse.”
Trump said that the U.S. should be focused on negotiating peace for the entire Russia-Ukraine conflict, and that a peace may include Ukraine losing territory.
“I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war,” Trump said.
Everything would be “subject to negotiation” in efforts to “force peace,” he said.
“I think [Ukraine] would be entitled to keep much of what they’ve earned and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator or negotiator, and we don’t have that right now,” he added.
Early attempts at peace between Ukraine and Russia have made little progress, as each party appears unwilling to waver on key terms. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s 10-point peace proposal would require Russia to leave all occupied Ukrainian land, something Russia is unlikely to agree to do. This would include the Crimea region, which Russia took in a 2014 conflict.
Trump was also unwilling to press Putin on international war crimes. He said those discussions should be left until after the war because “right now, if you bring that topic up, you’ll never make peace. You’ll never make a settlement.”