The conviction and charges against former US President Donald Trump appear to be “attempts by the current authorities to eliminate political rivals by any means,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today.
Peskov said that Russia usually avoids commenting on the judgments of foreign courts, but when it comes to Trump, he added, “it is obvious that it is the elimination of political rivals by all possible legal and illegal means.”
Donald Trump became the first US president to be convicted of a crime when a New York jury found him guilty of forging documents to cover up a hush-up payment to former adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
The ruling comes ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, when Trump, the Republican candidate, will try to defeat Democratic candidate and incumbent Joseph Biden.
Referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s statements that Europe has entered an intermediate stage of preparations for war with Russia, Peskov said that Moscow’s perspective coincides with Budapest’s.
“There is an absolute escalation, an escalation of such pro-war feelings, a deliberate incitement of such pre-war hysteria. And all of this, of course, cannot help but have a very negative effect on the overall situation. The escalation of tensions continues,” said Peskov.
He supported China’s decision to abstain from participating in an international conference on Ukraine in Switzerland in mid-June, saying Russia shared China’s approach to dealing with the Ukraine issue.
“From the very beginning, China spoke about the absolute uselessness of holding such formats without the participation of Russia according to the agenda that was announced,” said Peskov, AA writes.
