Trump binansagang kaaway ang Russia

HELSINKI (AFP) – Binansagan nitong Linggo ni US President Donald Trump na kaaway ang Russia habang naghahanda sa paghaharap nila ni Vladimir Putin sa makasaysayang summit na nabahiran ng mga umano’y manipulasyon ng Moscow sa 2016 US election.

Ang summit nitong Lunes sa Helsinki ay magbibigay kina Putin, dating KGB spymaster, at Trump ng pagkakayaon na masukat ang posisyon ng isa’t isa sa maraming isyu kabilang ang Syria, Ukraine at nuclear disarmament.

Tumulak si Trump patungong Helsinki nitong Linggo matapos bansagan ang Russia na ‘’a foe’’, kasama ang European Union at China, sa isang panayam na inilabas sa bisperas ng kanyang unang one-on-one summit sa Kremlin boss.

‘’Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union but they’re a foe. Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly they are a foe. But that doesn’t mean they are bad. It doesn’t mean anything. It means that they are competitive,’’ aniya sa CBS nitong Sabado.

Sinabi niya sa Twitter habang paalis patungong Helsinki na siya ay ‘’looking forward to meeting with President Putin’’.

Ngunit idinagdag niya na: ‘’Unfortunately, no matter how well I do at the Summit, if I was given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia...over the years, I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough - that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition!’’

Sa Helsinki, mahigit 2,000 katao na kumokondena sa mga pag-atake sa human rights, press freedom at dissent ang nagmartsa patungo sa central Senate Square ng Helsinki.

‘’Whiny demented man-baby meets evil master spy. What could go wrong?’’ nakasulat sa isang banner.

Galit din ang ilang Finnish kay Putin, isang lalaki ang nagtaas ng karatula na may makasulat sa English at Russian na nagsasabing ‘’Putin prison for lifetime’’.