Former President Donald Trump gave a critical take on Wednesday’s U.S.-Russia summit in Switzerland, arguing that Washington “got nothing” in return for boosting Moscow’s profile on the international stage.
“I stopped the pipeline,” Trump said. “It was given back and nothing was gotten for it,” he added.
Lawmakers from both parties consider Nord Stream 2, which connects Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, a security risk that undermines American interests and NATO.
“The United States and Russia have demonstrated that, even in periods of tension, they are able to make progress on our shared goals of ensuring predictability in the strategic sphere, reducing the risk of armed conflicts and the threat of nuclear war,” the two presidents said in the joint statement, according to The White House.
“Today, we reaffirm the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” they added.
The Kremlin said on Thursday it was pleased with what it called a positive summit. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov singled out the joint statement that reaffirmed the two countries’ commitment to avoid a nuclear war.
“It may be a short statement but ... it reflects the special responsibility of our two countries not only before our own peoples but, as pretentious as it may sound, before the whole world,” Peskov said.
In the course of their summit, Biden and Putin vowed to begin laying the groundwork for a new phase of arms control, agreed to hold talks on a cyberattack prevention framework, and reached an agreement to return their chief diplomats to Moscow and Washington after they were called home amid a diplomatic spat.
