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Former US President Donald Trump (right) with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019. © IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire/White House
A claim by Donald Trump turns out to be false: He alone could persuade Putin to release the US journalist Gershkovich, the Republican had claimed.
Washington – When former US President Donald Trump is not telling blatant lies – more than 30,000 were during his term of office alone – he likes to make claims that are difficult to refute. For example, that he could end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours”. He has not yet had to provide proof of this. However, with the historic prisoner exchange between Russia and the West, another of his claims has now turned out to be false.
US election: Trump claimed Putin would release US reporters only “for me, but for no one else”
In May, the Republican had suggested on his social network Truth Social that Russian President Vladimir Putin would only release US reporter Evan Gershkovich “for me, for no one else.” “Evan Gershkovich, the reporter from the Wall Street Journal will be released almost immediately after the election, but certainly before I take office,” the ex-president boastfully announced. “He will be at home, safe and with his family. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, will do this for me, but for no one else, and we will not pay anything,” he claimed.
After the announcement of the largest prisoner exchange between Russia, Belarus and the West since the Cold War, it did not take long for discussions on social media to begin about Trump’s earlier statement. “I cannot help but notice that Trump claimed that only he could do this,” commented Nicholas Grossman, a professor at the University of Illinois, on the platform X“It looks as if Putin has suddenly lost confidence that Trump will win in November. He secured the payout for his hostage-taking early on,” the conservative journalist speculated. David Frum.
“Masterpiece of diplomacy”: This is how the negotiations on the prisoner exchange with Russia went
In fact, the prisoner exchange was arranged by US President Joe Biden in cooperation with other Western states. Biden himself described the successful deal as a “masterpiece of diplomacy” and expressed special thanks to the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). According to US security advisor Jake Sullivan, Biden had held a series of talks with Scholz to facilitate the prisoner exchange. At the beginning of the year, the Chancellor then told the President: “I will do this for you,” and also gave his consent to the release of the “Tiergarten murderer” imprisoned in Germany.
They had originally been working on an “agreement that would have included Alexei Navalny,” Sullivan further announced. However, Kremlin critic Navalny died in Russian custody in February, but negotiations continued after his death. The deal was not finalized until July. US Vice President Kamala Harris stressed that the exchange was “extraordinary proof of how important it is to have a president who understands the power of diplomacy.” This could certainly be seen as a swipe at Trump. (bme with AFP).
