7 Jul 2017

Trump berates Russia before Putin meet at G20

7:22 am on 7 July 2017

US President Donald Trump has called on Russia to stop "destabilising" Ukraine and other countries and end support for "hostile regimes" such as those in Syria and Iran.

US President Donald Trump speaks in Poland.

US President Donald Trump speaks in Poland. Photo: AFP

Speaking in the Polish capital Warsaw, Mr Trump urged Russia to "join the community of responsible nations".

The Kremlin rejected his comments.

The US leader has travelled to Hamburg for the G20 summit, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time as president.

He also faces differences with other leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said last week the G20 would focus on the Paris climate deal - which the US has withdrawn from.

Up to 100,000 protesters are expected to target the two-day event and police have warned of potentially violent clashes. They have already confiscated a number of homemade weapons.

"It's important because you have the biggest meeting of all of the leading rulers of the main countries in the world - the G20 - and I don't like some of the politics that they're doing, especially that of [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, of Putin and of Trump," one protester told the BBC.

In Warsaw, Mr Trump argued that the future of Western civilisation itself was at stake and asked whether the West had the "will to survive".

He urged Russia to join the "fight against common enemies and in defence of civilisation itself".

The US leader also hailed Poland as an example of a country ready to defend Western freedoms.

Poland's conservative government shares Mr Trump's hostile view of immigration and strong sense of sovereignty.

Giving a news conference ahead of his Warsaw speech, Mr Trump also:

  • Called on countries to demonstrate to North Korea that there were consequences for its "very bad behaviour" and said "something will have to be done about it"
  • Said America's "strong alliance with Poland and Nato" remained "critical to deterring conflict"
  • Said in reference to Syria that "any nation which values human life can never tolerate the use of chemical weapons"
  • Said "nobody really knows for sure" if Russia interfered in last year's US election
  • Said CNN had taken "too seriously" a mock video he tweeted in which he wrestles a person with the broadcaster's logo for a head

- BBC

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