Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson has claimed the incoming Trump administration has repeatedly used one key term which Joe Biden has supposedly avoided – peace.
The president-elect has repeatedly promised to end the Ukraine–Russia war within 24 hours of getting into office, but is yet to explain just how he would do so.
As Trump has also been softer on Putin over the years, and once called his invasion of Ukraine “savvy” and “genius”, there are fears he may push Kyiv to cede land to Russia just to end the conflict.
And the Russian president’s spokesperson suggested Trump was definitely going in a different direction to Biden’s administration.
According to Reuters, Dmitry Peskov said: “From the circle of Trump supporters and those who have been nominated for future positions in the future administration, the word ‘peace’ or ‘peace plan’ is being heard.
“No such words are being heard from the current (Biden) administration while provocative escalatory actions continue. That is the reality that we face.”
The outgoing president gave Ukraine permission to use US-supplied long-range missiles to target sites within Russia for the first time last week, and the UK soon followed suit.
It reportedly came after Moscow started to recruit North Korean troops to serve in Russia.
Putin also fired a ballistic missile – without a nuclear payload – at Ukraine after Kyiv used its new long-range arsenal to strike into Russia.
According to Russian state news agency TASS, Peskov also slammed the current White House as a “party of war” – ignoring that it was of course Moscow who started the conflict by invading Ukraine in 2022.
He said: “The Biden administration is a party of war. They are war hawks. They have repeatedly demonstrated that they want and will do everything to keep this war going.”
But the Kremlin spokesperson also expressed some caution about Trump.
He told TASS: “You and I are not wearing rose-coloured glasses, and it remains to be seen whether Trump will continue this policy [of escalation] or whether he will change it.
“We don’t know that. We will see it with you in the third 10 days of January.”
Peskov’s comments came after Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice for national security adviser, told Fox News on Sunday that Trump was “very concerned” the Ukraine conflict could escalate and wanted the war to be brought to a “responsible end”.
Waltz said: “What we need to be discussing is who’s at that table, whether it’s an agreement, an armistice, how to get both sides to the table, and then what’s the framework of a deal.”
Putin said in June that he wants Kyiv to drop its plans to join Nato and formally cede the land Russia currently occupies in Ukraine.
But Kyiv has made it clear it will only accept peace if its borders from 1991 are restored.
