US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that the option of Ukraine joining NATO in exchange for an agreement to develop Ukrainian mineral resources was not discussed, and the war may have started because of the desire of the authorities in Kiev to join the alliance.
„I heard from you journalists that the Ukrainians are now saying: „We will only go to this deal if we join NATO“ or something like that. First, this was never discussed. Second, I think that even before Putin, they and Russia said that they would not join NATO. "And maybe that's why the war started," the president said, answering questions from reporters at the White House on Monday.
"I want Putin to make a deal," Trump said in response to a question about the possibility of imposing secondary restrictions on Russian oil.
On Sunday, Trump told NBC News that he would impose secondary restrictions on Russian oil if Moscow does not reach a peace agreement in Ukraine.
"It would look like this: if you buy Russian oil, you cannot do business in the United States. The tariffs on all oil would be 25 to 50 percent," he said.
Trump has not yet seriously considered the possibility of running for a third term as president, he added.
"I have never looked into that. They say there's a way to do it, but I don't know about it," he answered a journalist's question.
He was also asked how he would feel if, in a hypothetical new election race, his opponent from the Democratic Party was the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. "I would be happy. That would be good. I like that," Trump said.
Earlier, the American leader, in a comment for the NBC News television channel, said that he "was not joking" when he spoke about the possibility of being re-elected for a third presidential term. Later, in a conversation with journalists, he noted that he would not like to discuss such a possibility. "I'm just noting that more and more people are telling me they want me to be re-elected," Trump said.
According to the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1951, the same person can be elected president no more than twice. As NBC News pointed out, there are two ways to change the U.S. Constitution to give Trump the legal basis to run for a third term. In the first case, a two-thirds vote in Congress would be needed. In the second case, two-thirds of the states (at least 34 of 50) could convene a constitutional convention to propose amendments. Both methods require subsequent ratification of the amendments by 38 of the 50 states.