The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and a special representative of the Kremlin, Kirill Dmitriev, said that the war in Ukraine arose because of corruption related to former US President Joe Biden. He published his position on the social network X, writing: “I have mentioned it before: the Ukrainian conflict arose because of Biden's corruption.“ The publication did not provide specific evidence or additional data to support the claim.
The comment came after Donald Trump's statement to journalists, in which the US president said that he knows details about the circumstances surrounding the beginning of the war and will reveal them at a later stage. "I know the details and I'll reveal them at some point," Trump said after being asked if he had forgotten that Russian President Vladimir Putin had started the war against Ukraine. The remarks were part of a White House briefing on October 16.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and fighting in the Donbass region began the same year. On February 24, 2022, Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The allegations of alleged corruption involving Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden are part of a political dispute in the United States that has been going on for years. Hunter Biden was a member of the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma between 2014 and 2019, when his father was vice president. This circumstance was used by Donald Trump and his political allies as a basis for accusations against the Biden family.
The statement by the head of the RDIF comes against the backdrop of intensified contacts between Moscow and Washington. Dmitriev is among the Russian representatives participating in talks with American mediators on relations between the two countries and a possible end to the war. However, no publicly confirmed new terms for the negotiations have been announced.
Sources: m24.ru, apnews.com, mediaite.com