Putin says Trump election was ‘stolen’

Vladimir Putin has spoken glowingly of “smart” Donald Trump and agreed with the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020 was “stolen” and if Donald Trump had been in power “perhaps there would have not” been the war in Ukraine.

On Friday, the Russian leader also said Mr Trump was “smart” and “businesslike”.

The comments from The Kremlin, flattering Mr Trump and repeating the falsehood that he didn’t lose the election, comes at a worrying time for Putin. He is reportedly “increasingly concerned” at the state of the Russian economy as inflation soars and his citizens have less to spend while the war drags on.

In recent days, Mr Trump has said he and Putin should begin talking, potentially as soon as this weekend.

On Friday, Moscow time, Putin appeared to agree.

“We believe the current president’s statements about his readiness to work together. We are always open to this and ready for negotiations,” he told reporters.

“Therefore, most likely, it would be better for us to meet, based on the realities of today, to talk calmly on all those areas that are of interest to both the United States and Russia.

“We are ready”.

The conversation would not only be about ending Russia’s war in Ukraine but also on potentially limiting nuclear weapons numbers.

Vladimir Putin is said to be “increasingly concerned” at the state of the Russian economy. (Photo by Ramil SITDIKOV / POOL / AFP)

MORE: Putin’s $2.1bn ‘kleptocrat’ mansion exposed

‘Stolen’

“I can’t help agreeing with (Mr Trump) that if he had been president, if his victory had not been stolen in 2020, then perhaps there would not have been the crisis in Ukraine that arose in 2022”.

It’s worth noting that during Mr Trump’s first term Russia continued to annex Ukraine’s Crimea region and occupy parts of the Donbass.

Additionally, Russia’s elections have themselves been accused of being “stolen”. The most recent election saw Putin win by a suspiciously large margin with serious rivals were either in prison or not allowed to stand against him

During the election campaign Donald Trump vowed to end the Ukraine war in “24 hours” although that time line has slipped.

On social media last week, Mr Trump took fresh aim at Putin.

Last week, Mr Trump said the US could increase sanctions and tariffs on Russia if it didn’t come to the negotiating table. Russia is already one of the most sanctioned nations.

“I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOUR,” the US President wrote ion social media.

“Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.”

He also said if the price of oil reduced, Russia would have less to spend on its war on Ukraine.

A woman talks on the phone next to a residential building following a drone attack in Kyiv region on January 24, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)

Putin ‘increasingly concerned’

Mr Trump may have a point about Russia’s economy.

Exports of oil and gas as well as military manufacturing did lead to the economy to boom.

But there are now concerning signs that growth is throttling back and sanctions have begun to sting.

High interest rates to tackle inflation have hit Russian consumers’ wallets. And a labour shortage is impacting the country.

Reuters said it spoke to five sources that said Putin was “increasingly concerned” about the country’s economy and that was leading to a view in some quarters that the Ukraine conflict should be settled.

One source told Reuters that Putin believed key war goals had been met, including control of land that connects mainland Russia to Crimea, and weakening Ukraine’s military.

But he understood the strain the war was putting on the economy, the source said, citing “really big problems” such as the impact of interest rates.

US President Donald Trump is seen on a giant screen during his address by video conference at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 23, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The Kremlin has admitted there are “problematic factors” in the Russian economy but has insisted it can still fight the war and meet other spending requirements.

Moscow has maintained that any peace deal in Ukraine would have to take into account “territorial realities” on the ground. Russia claims four Ukrainian regions plus Crimea as its own.

However, Crimea aside, it does not fully control any of those four regions. A key negotiating point will be whether the conflict ends on the current front lines.

Ukraine has maintained its counter invasion of Russia’s Kursk region is only temporary and it would withdraw with the right deal on its land.

Kyiv is also calling for security guarantees from the US and Europe – likely troops – to deter Russia from later resuming its invasion.

But Peskov said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was refusing to talk.

“In order to reach a settlement, it is necessary to hold negotiations. (But) Zelensky has banned himself from conducting in his own decree.”

However, Mr Zelensky has been busy talking to leaders from across the world about what a peace settlement would look like.

Footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry on March 1, 2024 purport to show the test firing of an ICBM belonging to the country's nuclear deterrence forces. (Photo by Russian Defence Ministry / AFP)

Nuclear weapons call

Mr Trump, who on the campaign trail repeatedly raised the spectre of World War Three, said last week that the US wanted a world with fewer nuclear weapons.

He blamed his predecessor Joe Biden for escalating tensions with Moscow. But it was Putin and his circle that repeatedly made nuclear threats.

“We’d like to see denuclearisation,” Mr Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos via video link.

“And I will tell you President Putin really liked the idea of cutting way back on nuclear.

“And China would have come along too,” he said.

However, in recent years China has increased its nuclear arsenal and Russia has tested newer and larger weapons.

A number of treaties between the US and Russia on reducing the numbers of nuclear weapons have expired.

The last treaty on weapons control, New START, which pits a limit on strategic warheads, is due to end in early 2026.

Peskov said Putin had wanted to resume discussions on cutting back on nuclear weapons. But talks would have to include other nations with the weapons including France and the UK.

Those two nations’ nuclear arsenals are far smaller than Russia or the US’ stockpile. But they serve as a deterrent to Moscow on the European continent,

“So there is something to talk about, we need to talk,” said Peskov.

“Time has been lost in many respects. We have spoken about such interest before, so the ball is in the court of the US which has stopped all substantive contacts with our country”.

Originally published as Putin says Trump election was ‘stolen’