Frank Gardner
Security correspondent
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have a rapport, they have a personal relationship.
In some ways this is quite troubling, because during Trump’s first term in office he very publicly said he preferred to listen to Putin rather than his own intelligence agencies – which was a real shock to the intelligence community in the US.
But the fact that these two leaders do have something to talk about I think is quite promising.
You’ve got to remember what Trump’s priorities are. For him, it’s about securing the southern border, it’s about trade, it’s about China – he’s not that interested in Europe.
His big message, going back to what his defence secretary has been saying to Nato partners in Europe is ‘Ukraine is your problem, this is Europe, you sort it out, you spend more on defence’.
Britain has been agonising over whether it raises defence spending from 2.3 to 2.5% of GDP – but Trump’s thrown all of that out of the window and demanded 5% is spent, when America doesn’t even spend that. It’s unaffordable for most European nations.
But you’ve got big countries like Spain and Italy spending less than the mandated 2%, and the US is asking why should the American taxpayer have to shoulder that burden if you’re not prepared to pay for your own defence?
So this today has been a bit of a cold shower for both Ukraine and Nato.
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