The Russian leader has commented on whether the US president deserves a Nobel Prize
The efforts that US President Donald Trump is putting into resolving international conflicts cannot be disputed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday, commenting on whether the American leader deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump hsa repeatedly stated that he should be given the award, but the Norwegian Nobel Committee snubbed him earlier in the day, instead selecting a Venezuelan opposition politician as this year’s recipient.
The committee has a record of honoring people who “did nothing for peace,” Putin remarked, without calling out any specific names. Conversely, Trump “is really doing a lot to resolve difficult crises, which last for years and decades,” he added.
The recent mediation in the Middle East, if it leads to “Donald achieving all his goals, everything he said he wants to do, would be a historic event,” the president added.
Putin said that he considers Trump’s attempts to mediate an end to the Ukraine conflict genuine, adding, “some things we managed to do, others we didn’t, but the discussions that we had in Anchorage still have the potential to achieve a lot. What is certain, is that he is putting in the work.” Trump and Putin met in Alaska in mid-August, with talks primarily focusing on the Ukraine crisis.
The Russian president said it was not his place to decide who should or shouldn’t get a Nobel Peace Prize, but he asserted that some of the past unmerited selections had largely discredited the award.
Putin was speaking at a press conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, where he took part in a summit of national leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a regional post-Soviet intragovernmental organization.
