Maria Ragutkina20:05, 27.04.25

Experts analyzed Trump’s words about “Russian Crimea.”

US President Donald Trump has a poor understanding of the history and reasons for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Forbes reports, citing analysts.

According to experts, this and Trump’s sympathy for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin led to the proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine, after which a new Russian attack on the country is not ruled out.

“Russia’s threats to seize Crimea and eastern Ukraine date back to the time of Boris Yeltsin. Putin acted on these threats in 2003, attempting to seize the Ukrainian island of Tuzla off the coast of Crimea. The annexation of Crimea in 2014 was explained as a threat from NATO, which allegedly planned to establish naval bases on the peninsula. In reality, it was a response to Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity and its determination to sign an association agreement with the EU,” explained Harvard University professor Serhiy Plokhiy, a historian specializing in Russian-Ukrainian relations.

According to him, Russia, by starting a full-scale war, did not stop NATO, which refused to accept Ukraine back in 2008, but prevented the “escape” of the former imperial subject from the Russian Federation’s sphere of influence.

For his part, Syracuse University professor Brian Taylor believes that Trump’s claim that Ukraine’s hope for NATO membership “led to the start of the war” is a statement that does not stand up to criticism:

“Given that there was no serious prospect of Ukraine joining NATO between 2008 and 2022, it is difficult to understand how Ukraine’s hope of joining NATO at some point in the future triggered a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. Nothing has happened in the previous 14 years that would make Ukraine’s accession to NATO likely in the near future.”

The professor believes that most experts from Russia and Ukraine agree that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s key motive for a full-scale invasion was his desire to restore political control over Kyiv, which he sees as an “artificial state.”

“Putin was motivated by imperial ideas about Ukraine, not any concerns about the threat to Russia’s security from NATO. Russia has literally thousands of nuclear weapons to deter an attack on Russian territory. It is also worth noting that Putin does not seem to be concerned about Finland joining NATO in 2023, even though they share a land border. In fact, Russia has withdrawn troops from the Finnish border to fight in Ukraine,” he noted.

According to the publication, Trump has made other controversial statements about the war in Ukraine. In particular, he is talking about “concessions” by Russia to bring peace closer. Trump said that “stopping the war, stopping the seizure of all of Ukraine is a pretty big concession to Russia.”

“Putin didn’t take over Ukraine because he can’t. To suggest that ‘not taking over all of Ukraine’ is a concession to Russia is ridiculous,” explained retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan.

At the same time, Ukraine’s allies in Europe criticized the White House’s concessions to Putin, according to which the US recognizes the illegal annexation of Crimea, and Russia will control the territories of Ukraine that it currently occupies.

Brian Taylor drew attention to the fact that the US State Department under Trump published the “Crimean Declaration” in 2018, which confirmed the US position since 1932 not to recognize “claims to sovereignty over territory seized by force in violation of international law.”

“It is very disturbing and a reversal of more than 90 years of US foreign policy that Trump is talking about legally recognizing Russian control over Crimea as part of a ‘peace deal.’ This will send a terrible signal to other potential aggressors around the world,” he explained.

Trump’s statements about Crimea

As UNIAN reported, US President Donald Trump previously stated that Crimea would remain with Russia . He also noted that he did not believe in Ukraine’s ability to ever join NATO.

Trump’s words about ” Russian Crimea ” were immediately picked up by the Kremlin. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said that some positions of the US and Russia “do indeed coincide.”

(C)UNIAN 2025