Portugal’s president has branded President Donald Trump a “Russian asset,” blasting him for his tepid response to Moscow while Ukraine struggles against Russia’s invasion.
Trump has wavered heavily in his public stance on the war that started when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale assault on Ukraine over three years ago.
While Trump has threatened Putin with higher sanctions and “severe consequences” if he presses on with the war, he has declined to follow through, often lashing out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky instead.
After failing to secure a ceasefire from Putin at the red-carpet summit in Alaska earlier this month, Trump instead targeted Zelensky, claiming the Ukrainian leader “can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.”
Citing Trump’s soft posture on Russia, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said Wednesday, “The supreme leader of the world’s greatest superpower is, objectively, a Soviet, or Russian, asset. He functions as an asset,” according to CNN Portugal.
De Souse was speaking at a youth initiative organized by his party, the centre-right PSD. “I am saying that, objectively, the new U.S. leadership has strategically favored the Russian Federation,” he continued.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
The U.S. was long a steadfast supporter of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, imposing sanctions on Russia after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 and again following his full-scale invasion of the country.
But De Sousa, who is not Portugal’s head of government, argued that America leadership has since “gone from being allies on one side to acting as referees in the conflict,” noting that Trump only wants to negotiate “with one of the teams,” according to Euronews.
Shortly after Putin sent his forces into Ukraine in 2022, Trump praised the move as “genius” and “savvy.”
And though he has slammed Russia’s nightly strikes on Ukrainian civilians, Trump has supported Russian peace proposals that would require Ukraine to cede its Donbas region.
He has also echoed the Kremlin’s demands that Crimea’s annexation be recognized and that Ukraine remains out of NATO, while promising that the U.S. would help guarantee Ukraine’s security in any deal to end the war.
It’s likely De Sousa’s views are shared by other European leaders, seven of whom hastily flew out to the White House to show support for Zelensky during his meeting with Trump following the Alaska summit.
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