A Russian media outlet ripped President Donald Trump on Tuesday after he claimed on social media that its president was “playing with fire.”
Trump had issued a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Truth Social earlier Tuesday, the latest in his leveling of rare opposition against the Kremlin.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Trump wrote.
RT — a Russian media TV news network previously accused of acting in connection to Moscow’s spy agencies by the U.S. — responded to Trump’s targeted criticism of Putin on X, saying that his message “leaves little room for misinterpretation.”
“...Until he posts the opposite tomorrow morning,” the outlet continued.
Trump has long emphasized his friendly relationship with Putin, and while running for his second term, claimed that he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours.
But Trump had since appeared to have grown agitated with the Russian leader. On Saturday, Trump told reporters that he didn’t know “what the hell happened” to Putin, amid Russia launching what Ukrainian officials described as the the largest aerial attack of the now three-year war.
“I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” Trump said.
The following day, Trump took to his Truth Social account and said that Putin has “gone absolutely CRAZY,” and warned that if the Russian president wanted to take over all Ukraine, then it would “lead to the downfall of Russia!”
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him,” Trump wrote on Sunday. “He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever.”
“This is a War that would never have started if I were President. This is Zelenskyy’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not “Trump’s,” I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred,” he added.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of the Russian Federation’s Security Council, had also responded to Trump’s “playing with fire” Putin attack in a post on X.
“I only know of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!” he wrote.
Stories by Rachel Cohen
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