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Former US president Donald Trump has played down his connections to Russia once again.
Speculation around the Republican nominee’s links to Moscow and president Vladimir Putin has been rising in recent weeks as the US election looms ever closer.
Journalist Bob Woodward wrote in his book War – published last month – that Putin and Trump had up to seven conversations over the phone since the latter left the White House.
Both sides have denied the claims.
But the Republican nominee revived this speculation when speaking to right-wing interviewer Tucker Carlson, a controversial figure who has interviewed (and offered a sympathetic view of) Putin himself, this week.
Trump told Carlson on Thursday: “They [critics] love to say that I was a friend of Russia, I worked for Russia, I was a Russian spy.
“These people are sick.”
Trump then referred back to his sanctions against the major gas line between Russia and Europe, Nordstream 2 in 2019.
The Trump administration was worried the pipeline would make Europe dependent on Russia’s cheap energy exports and reduce appetite for America’s liquefied natural gas on the continent.
Trump continued: “This is the biggest pipeline in the world. It goes from Russia to Germany and all over Europe. I killed it.
“Nobody would kill it, but me, I stopped it. The thing was half built.”
However, Trump overlooked how he called Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “savvy” and “genius” in 2022.
And, despite jokingly endorsing Trump’s Democratic rival Kamala Harris, the Kremlin is expected to be rooting for the Republican to return to the Oval Office.
After all, Trump has refused to say which side he wants to win the Ukraine war, only saying that he wants it to end, sparking fears he would push Kyiv to cede its occupied land to Putin.
And, though his team has denied claims there were phone calls between Putin and Trump after he left office, the Republican nominee did say last month that if he did speak to the Russian president, “it’s a smart thing”.
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