Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has stirred a fresh controversy after he accused US President Donald Trump of being a “Russian asset”.
Speaking at a conference at the University in Castelo de Vide, Rebelo de Sousa criticised Trump for moving away from the stated unconditional support policy for Kyiv.
Rebelo said, arguably, “The top leader of the world’s greatest superpower is, objectively, a Soviet, or Russian, asset. He functions as an asset.” He went further and accused Trump of giving extraordinary favours to the Russian side while mediating between the two countries. Trump is not a genuine mediator but rather “an arbiter who only negotiates with one of the teams.
The remarks follow the famous Russiagate hoax first levelled against Trump in 2016 when he was just a presidential candidate. Democrats during the campaign had accused him of being a Russian asset.
Trump has repeatedly denounced Russiagate as the “biggest scandal in American history”, saying that the whole campaign was designed to sabotage his presidency and justify hostile policies towards Moscow.
Since his re-election to office in January, Trump has sought to position himself as a neutral broker in the Ukraine conflict.
He does not want to get involved too much in the resolution of the crisis, yet he mediates through diplomatic channels. Trump, despite his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska earlier this month, has constantly threatened Moscow with “massive sanctions”.
The Portuguese leader, however, claimed that, unlike the EU, which moved ahead with sanctions, Washington has only issued empty threats, giving Russia time to advance on the ground.
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