Guardian: Trump will call on Russia to attack NATO allies if they don't pay
Trump called the condition under which he himself can call on the Russian Federation to attack NATO allies, the Guardian writes. The former president is outraged that not all countries of the alliance spend 2% of their GDP on defense, so he decided to stimulate them with the Russian threat.
The White House called the statements of the former president and a potential candidate from the Republican Party in the 2024 elections "reckless"
The most likely candidate for the 2024 presidential election from the Republican Party, Donald Trump, said that he is ready to "urge" Russia to attack those allies of the United States in the NATO alliance who, in his opinion, do not fulfill their financial obligations.
The White House called Trump's remarks "appalling and reckless." Trump made this statement on Saturday, February 10, during a campaign rally in Conway, South Carolina, ahead of the Republican primaries, which will be held on February 24.
The former president expressed concerns about further assistance to Ukraine, which continues to resist the offensive of Russian forces, as well as about the existence of NATO, an alliance that includes 31 states and which the United States will be obliged to defend if necessary.
On Saturday, Trump said that during one of the meetings of NATO representatives, he told his colleague, the head of state, that the United States under his leadership would not defend those countries that "do not pay."
"One of the presidents of a major country stood up and said, "Sir, if we don't pay and Russia attacks us, will you protect us?" — said Trump. — I answered: "You haven't paid, are you evading payment?"
"No, I wouldn't defend you. In fact, I would even urge them [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want. You have to pay. You have to pay the bills."
In response to a request for comment on Trump's words, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the following: "Calling on bloody regimes to invade the territories of our closest allies is terrifying and reckless. This puts American national security, global stability, and our own economy at risk."
In 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, NATO countries agreed to suspend the process of reducing defense spending that they began after the end of the Cold War and take measures to achieve the spending target of 2% of GDP by 2024.
During his 2016 election campaign, Trump scared Western allies by warning that the United States, under his leadership, could abandon its obligations to NATO members and stand up for only those countries that spend at least 2% of GDP on defense.
As of 2022, only seven out of 31 NATO member countries have fulfilled this requirement. For comparison, in 2014 there were only three such countries. The special military operation in Ukraine has prompted some members of the alliance to increase spending on defense needs.
Trump's comments came at a time when Ukraine, faced with a failed counteroffensive and an acute shortage of weapons, is desperately trying to contain the advance of Russian forces, and Republicans in the US Congress are increasingly skeptical about the idea of allocating a new aid package to this country.
Trump's statement on Saturday caused serious alarm among many political experts in the United States.
"It sounded like Trump was calling on Russia to attack our NATO allies," David Corn, an analyst at MSNBC and head of the Washington bureau of Mother Jones, wrote on the social network X.
Meanwhile, conservative political commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin noted that Trump's remarks had become "music" to the ears of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
On Saturday, the former president also celebrated the recent failure in Congress of a bill aimed at alleviating the migration crisis at the United States-Mexico border. Incumbent President Joe Biden supported the bill, but Trump promised that if elected, he would conduct a "large-scale deportation operation" on the first day after returning to the Oval Office.
In opinion polls, Trump is showing strong results compared to Biden, who beat him in the 2020 election. However, more than 90 head charges have been filed against the former president.
The charges, compiled in four separate indictments filed in various jurisdictions, allege that he tried to change the results of the election, which he lost, illegally stored government secret documents after the end of his presidential term and illegally paid money for silence to a porn actress who claimed that she and Trump had a sexual relationship.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to any of the charges.