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Vladimir Putin’s aide seemed to brush off Donald Trump’s latest jibe over the Ukraine war by claiming the president is just using his “unique way of speaking”.
The Russian president allegedly offered to mediate between Israel and Iran as their conflict escalated this week during a phone call with Trump.
Putin also put forward a settlement proposal to help end the conflict during a press conference on Wednesday, evidently trying to present himself as an international mediator.
However, the US president publicly knocked back Putin’s suggestion – and pointedly reminded his Russian counterpart that Russia is currently at war, too.
Trump told reporters: “Putin actually offered to help mediate, I said, ‘do me a favour, mediate your own, let’s mediate Russia first, okay?’
“I said, ‘Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first, you can worry about this later.’”
The US president has been trying to resolve the war Putin started in Ukraine for months now, but the Russian leader has refused to compromise on any peace terms.
Trump has repeatedly suggested ending the war on terms more favourable to Russia, even though Putin invaded Ukraine back in 2022 and continues to hold 18% of its land.
Even so, it’s clear the Kremlin does not want to actively aggravate Trump.
So Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, played down the impact of Trump’s rejection of Putin’s mediation offer.
“Everyone has a different language,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson told Sky News. “President Trump has his own unique way of speaking and his unique language. We are quite tolerant and expect everyone to be tolerant of us.”
Putin has worked with Israel in the past, but is closer to Iran right now.
But the US is one of Israel’s closest allies – and Trump has recently threatened to join the attacks against Iran.
So Peskov told Sky that it was “unimaginable” that Iran might change its authoritarian regime.
He said: “It would lead to the birth of extremist moods inside Iran.”
“The situation is extremely tense and is dangerous not only for the region but globally.
“An enlargement of the composition of the participants of the conflict is potentially even more dangerous.
“It will lead only to another circle of confrontation and escalation of tension in the region.”
According to the UK’s Ministry of Defence, the Iran-Israel conflict has weakened Putin’s ability to keep attacking Ukraine, because Tehran sends Moscow military equipment.
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