On today’s Kremlin conference call, I asked Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov how concerned he was by Donald Trump’s criticism of the Russian president, including his comment that Putin had gone “absolutely crazy” with his continued attacks on Ukraine.
Peskov replied: “Of course, the start of the negotiation process, for which the American side made a lot of effort, is a very important achievement and we are truly grateful to the Americans and personally to President Trump for their help in organising and launching this negotiation process.
“It’s a very important achievement. Of course, at the same time this is a very important moment which is connected to an emotional overload of everyone involved and emotional reactions.
“We carefully monitor all the reactions. However, President Putin takes those decisions which are necessary for the security of our country.
“We all witnessed how the Kyiv regime threatened foreign leaders before they came to Moscow to commemorate Victory Day. Everyone heard these threats by the Kyiv regime.
“And many leaders who were here witnessed attempts by the Kyiv regime to strike Russian territory with drones, large cities, even the capital, on the eve of such an important day. These attempts continue. We are forced to take measures and President Putin does what is necessary to provide security for Russia.”