Former British Defence Minister Ben Wallace criticized assertions made by some members of Donald Trump's team that the war in Ukraine would not have occurred if Trump had remained president of the United States. Reports TSN. This was reported by Kontrakty.UA.
He made these comments in an interview with CNN.
According to Wallace, such rhetoric is part of fake news and does not reflect reality. He reminded that Russian President Vladimir Putin published an article back in June 2021, where he outlined his ideas regarding the "unification of the ancient people of Rus."
"Just read Putin's essay from June 2021. He wrote on 19 pages that it was fate – unification. And only in one paragraph out of those 19 pages did he mention NATO," Wallace emphasized.
He also pointed out that the claim that NATO's expansion was the reason for the war is not true.
"I hear different people telling us: if NATO hadn't expanded... But Gorbachev officially stated that there were no guarantees regarding NATO's non-expansion. That is not the reason for the invasion. Putin attacked Ukraine because of his ambitions and desire for a greater Russia. He wrote this himself," the former Defence Minister stressed.
Wallace also noted that some popular media and politicians, including Tucker Carlson, are spreading Kremlin narratives.
"Carlson is coming out with reports suggesting that NATO was allegedly planning to invade using spy camps. This is a Kremlin thesis. But now it’s even being echoed in the White House," he warned.
The politician emphasized that the current events are not determined by who is in the White House.
"We are where we are not because of who was the U.S. president – Biden or Trump. But because Putin decided that he wanted a greater Russia. He wrote this a year before the invasion, in his essay on ethnic nationalism," Wallace concluded.
He also reminded that Russia began its aggression against Ukraine back in 2014, when NATO expansion was not on the agenda.
Ben Wallace also believes that the U.S. has gained significant benefits from the assistance provided to Ukraine. He emphasized that most of the weapons were provided as donations, which allowed the West to rearm its own armies with new equipment.