Putin says Ukraine conflict could have been avoided had Trump been in office
Moscow, Jan 24 (AP): Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday echoed US President Donald Trump's claim the conflict in Ukraine could have been prevented had he been in the White House in 2022. He also said Moscow is ready for talks with the US on a broad range of issues.
In an interview with Russian state television, Putin praised Trump as a “clever and pragmatic man” who is focused on US interests.
“We always had a business-like, pragmatic but also trusting relationship with the current US president,” Putin said. “I couldn't disagree with him that if he had been president, if they hadn't stolen victory from him in 2020, the crisis that emerged in Ukraine in 2022 could have been avoided."
Putin's statement was his bluntest endorsement yet of Trump's refusal to accept his defeat in the 2020 election.
Trump also has said repeatedly he wouldn't have allowed the conflict to start if he had been in office, even though he was president as fighting grew in the east of the country between Kyiv's forces and separatists aligned with Moscow, ahead of Putin sending in tens of thousands of troops in 2022.
On Thursday, Trump told Fox News that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have made a deal with Putin to avoid the conflict.
Putin emphasised Friday that he's open to talks but pointed to Zelenskyy's 2022 decision to rule out negotiations with Moscow.
“How is it possible to conduct talks if they are banned?” Putin said. “If the talks start in the existing legal framework, they would be illegitimate and the results of those talks could also be declared illegitimate.”
He also said the US and Russia have many other items on their agenda, including nuclear arms control and economic issues.
“We can have quite a lot of points of contact with the current administration and search for solutions to key issues of today,” Putin said.
He said the sanctions against Russia introduced during Trump's first term and under Joe Biden's administration had hurt US interests, undermining the dollar's role in global financial system.
Putin described Trump as "not only clever, but a pragmatic man," adding. “I find it hard to imagine that he would make decisions that would hurt the American economy.”
“We'd better meet and have a calm conversation on all issues of interest to both the United States and Russia based on today's realities,” Putin said.
He noted that as top oil producers and major industrial powers, Russia and the US aren't interested in global oil prices being either too low or too high. “We have things to talk about,” Putin said.
Speaking by video from the White House to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, Trump said the OPEC+ alliance of oil exporting countries shares responsibility for the nearly 3-year-old conflict in Ukraine because it has kept oil prices too high.
“If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately,” he said. Energy sales form a large part of Russia's earnings.
Asked about Trump's comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov affirmed Moscow's view that the conflict was triggered by the West's refusal to take into account Russian security interests.
“The conflict doesn't depend on oil prices,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. “The conflict is ongoing because of the threat to Russia's national security, the threat to Russians living on those territories and the refusal by the Americans and the Europeans to listen to Russia's security concerns. It's not linked to oil prices.”
Peskov's comments echoed Putin's statements that he had to send troops into Ukraine to fend off a threat to Russia's security resulting from plans for Ukraine to join NATO and to protect Russian speakers living there. Ukraine and the West have denounced Moscow's action as an unprovoked act of aggression.
On Wednesday, Trump threatened to impose stiff tariffs and sanctions on Russia if an agreement isn't reached to end the fighting in Ukraine.
Peskov said the Kremlin was closely following Trump's statements and noted he imposed a slew of sanctions in his first term. He said Moscow “remains ready for an equal dialogue, for a mutually respectful dialogue.”
“This dialogue took place between the two presidents during Trump's first presidency. And we are waiting for signals that we have not received yet,” Peskov said.
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Deaf and mute woman breaks 16-year silence, exposes serial sexual abuse, blackmail in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): A deaf and mute woman's complaint about a sexual assault that took place 16 years ago in Mumbai has unmasked a serial predator, revealing a disturbing pattern of abuse and blackmail he perpetrated on several women from the community.
The accused was arrested on December 13 after the survivor broke her silence recently following the suicide attempt by one of the women he allegedly sexually harassed.
Disturbed by the suicide attempt, she confided in her friends during a video call about the assault that occurred in 2009.
According to the police, the survivor, a resident of the western suburbs, communicated in sign language during a video call with her friends and colleagues, who were part of a WhatsApp group, that the accused had drugged and raped her when she was a minor.
She also took her husband into confidence, and with support from Thane Deaf Association president Vaibhav Ghaisis, activist Mohammed Farhan Khan, sign language interpreter Madhu Keni, and a retired officer from the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities Divyangjan, the survivor approached the police.
The survivor, her husband and a few of her friends went to the Kurar police station, where her statement was recorded in camera, with Keni as interpreter, and the accused, Mahesh Pawar, was arrested a few hours later from Virar, a suburb in Palghar district.
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Recalling the trauma she endured 16 years ago, the survivor said that a female friend had invited her to explore the city in July 2009 and took her to Pawar's home in Vakola, Santacruz, an official said.
The accused allegedly offered her samosas and some beverage to celebrate the female friend's birthday. The survivor said she was forced to have the drink, which Pawar had allegedly spiked, and after a while, her friend left her alone with him.
The accused allegedly overpowered and raped her, and later blackmailed her with the recorded video of the assault.
The trauma of assault stayed with her over the years, and the attempted suicide of another woman from the community, allegedly assaulted by Pawar, propelled her to come forward.
A probe has revealed that the accused had similarly drugged and assaulted speech and hearing impaired women and threatened them into silence by blackmailing them with obscene videos, a senior police officer said.
The accused allegedly shot obscene videos of several women, using which he blackmailed them and extorted money, gold and mobile phones, he said.
He allegedly forced women into participating in nude video calls with him and recorded these to threaten them, the official said.
"As per initial investigation so far, we have evidence of his abuse of seven women, but the number can increase to more than 24," the official told PTI.
While Pawar has been remanded in judicial custody, no other woman has come forward with a complaint against him as yet, he said.
Talking to PTI, Keni said all women who have survived abuse and harassment by Pawar want to lodge a complaint against him.
She claimed that the accused had extorted money from one of the women he abused, but did not return the sum even when she needed it for a medical emergency.
