Russia and Putin · 2024 campaign · № 81
Said talk of Ukraine joining NATO is 'really why this war started'
“So, for 20 years, I heard that NATO -- if Ukraine goes into NATO, it's a real problem for Russia. I've heard that for a long time. And I think that's really why this war started. I'm not sure that this war would have started. Biden was saying all of the wrong things. And one of the wrong things he was saying, "No, Ukraine will go into NATO."”
- Said
- , The All-In Podcast, interview with David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis and David Friedberg
- Subject
- NATO membership as cause
- Type
- Ukraine
- Topic
- Ukraine & Russia
- Era
- 2024 campaign
What happened
Asked by David Sacks whether he would take NATO expansion 'off the table' to get a peace deal, Trump said the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO was 'really why this war started' and that Biden 'was saying all of the wrong things.' Moscow has long opposed NATO enlargement; NATO members have formally supported Ukraine's eventual membership since the 2008 Bucharest summit. Trump also said he had assumed Putin's troop build-up in 2021 was 'for negotiation purposes' and called Putin 'a good negotiator.' He made the same argument at his January 7, 2025 news conference, saying he could 'understand' Russia's feeling about NATO on its doorstep.