Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has accused US President Donald Trump of only pretending to act as an impartial mediator in the Ukraine conflict, while serving Moscow’s interests and functioning as a “Russian asset.”
Speaking on Wednesday at the Social Democratic Party’s Summer University in Castelo de Vide, Rebelo de Sousa criticized Trump for shifting away from his predecessor’s policy of unconditional support for Kiev.
“The top leader of the world’s greatest superpower is, objectively, a Soviet, or Russian, asset. He functions as an asset,” Rebelo de Sousa stated, as cited by CNN Portugal.
The Portuguese leader further claimed that Trump is less a genuine mediator than an “arbiter who only negotiates with one of the teams,” arguing that Kiev and its EU backers had to “push their way in” to take part in recent talks in Washington.
The remarks echoed the Russiagate hoax first leveled against Trump in 2016, when his opponents alleged that his campaign had colluded with the Kremlin. The narrative dominated his first term, despite the 2019 Mueller probe finding no evidence of collusion and the 2023 Durham Report concluding that the affair was largely manufactured by political operatives.
Trump has called Russiagate the “biggest scandal in American history,” insisting that it was designed to sabotage his presidency and justify hostile policies toward Moscow.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has sought to cast himself as a neutral broker in the Ukraine conflict, alternating between blaming Russia and Ukraine for the lack of progress. He has regularly communicated with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. At times, he has threatened Moscow with “massive sanctions,” while on other occasions he has accused Kiev of showing “no flexibility” and not being “ready” for peace.
Earlier this month, Trump warned that he was “very, very unhappy” with Putin and threatened to impose secondary tariffs on Russia’s trading partners – with the threat still looming after their historic Alaska summit. 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.
Trump has maintained that “everybody’s to blame” for the conflict, which he insists is “not his war,” and vowed to make a “very important decision” on the future of US policy within weeks, depending on whether Moscow and Kiev engage in meaningful peace talks.
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