Breaking News: Donald Trump forced to deny he is planning to visit Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin….See More

The US president has been accused of adopting a pro-Russia position in recent days

Donald Trump has dismissed French media reports alleging plans for him to visit Moscow for a ‘Victory Day’ WWII commemoration event on May 9. This trip would represent the first by a US president to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Speaking to US television channels, he directly negated the rumors, stating: “No, I’m not.”

Trump’s remark comes amidst speculations about his administration increasingly aligning with Vladimir Putin. This follows recent bilateral discussions commenced by Trump’s team with Russian representatives in Saudi Arabia, and his echoing of Kremlin narratives blaming Ukraine for igniting the ongoing conflict.

Moreover, he described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator without elections”.

Zelensky retorted by accusing Trump of being ensnared in Russian “disinformation space”, prompting White House officials to condemn Zelensky’s comments as “insulting” towards the American leader. Adding to the controversy, Elon Musk, spearheading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, also criticized Zelensky, calling him out for operating a “fraud machine feeding off the dead bodies of soldiers”, reports the Mirror.

Trump’s seeming endorsement of Putin persisted on Friday when he sidestepped a question regarding Putin’s responsibility for the war in Ukraine. After detailing some of the destruction inflicted upon Ukrainian cities, Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade asked Trump, “that’s Vladimir Putin’s fault, don’t you agree? ” The US president bypassed the query and proceeded to critique Zelensky’s performance, stating he didn’t deem it “important” for the Ukrainian president to be present at peace talks.

A visit from a sitting US president would have been viewed as a significant geopolitical victory by Putin, whose country was effectively ostracized by the Western world following the 2022 invasion. Trump had previously encountered Russian President Vladimir Putin at a G8 summit in Helsinki in July 2018.

The last instance of a US president visiting Russia was in 2013, when Barack Obama journeyed to St Petersburg for the G20 summit and conducted a bilateral meeting with Putin.