Donald Trump spoke of his admiration of “tough cookie” Vladimir Putin and described his latest move as “genius” in an interview with a rightwing news channel.
The former US president accused Joe Biden of being “weak” in his response to Putin’s sending of forces into separatist enclaves in the east of Ukraine.
Speaking on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, he added:
“Putin declares a big portion of Ukraine as independent. That’s wonderful. How smart is that? This is genius.
“I knew Putin very well. I got along with him great. He’s got a lot of great charm and a lot of pride. He loves his country.”
“You’re not gonna do it”
The 75-year-old said that as president, he would talk to Mr Putin about wanting to invade Ukraine. “I used to talk to him about it. I said, ‘You can’t do it. You’re not gonna do it’. But I could see that he wanted it.”
Mr Trump warned oil and gas prices would rise, to the benefit of the Russian president.
Mr Trump said: “I know Vladimir Putin very well, and he would have never done, during the Trump administration, what he is doing now, no way!
“Now it has begun, oil prices are going higher and higher, and Putin is not only getting what he always wanted, but getting, because of the oil and gas surge, richer and richer.”
Russia has become “very, very rich”
The former US president added: “If properly handled, there was absolutely no reason that the situation currently happening in Ukraine should have happened at all.”
He said Russia had become “very, very rich” during the Biden administration, with oil prices “doubling and soon to be tripling and quadrupling.”
Mr Trump said: “The weak sanctions are insignificant relative to taking over a country and a massive piece of strategically located land.”
He said that, if he was still president, oil prices would have remained low.
“Now, what a mess our country is in,” he added.