President Trump’s suggestion during the G7 summit that Crimea is a part of Russia prompted surprise and some outrage — but not for everyone.
Russia’s state TV channel said, “Crimea is ours! Trump is ours!” after the president defied the international community’s condemnation of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, formerly a part of Ukraine.
News analyst Charlie Sennott joined Boston Public Radio to talk about the comments about the American president.
“There’s something in this presidency that favors autocracy, and autocrats pick up on it and they love it and they’re going forward with it,” said Sennott.
Sennott said Trump’s comments during the G7 illustrate that the president is willing to overlook the fact that Russia’s removal from the summit was prompted by its invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“The international community was so outraged by that,” he said. “It's as if history never happened, that the annexation of Crimea never happened.”
Trump suggested Russia ought to rejoin the summit, and said Crimea is a part of Russia because people there speak Russian.
Sennott said Trump’s “giving countenance to authoritarian regimes” has had a global effect.
“There’s this momentum that starts to roll forward,” he said. “This is worrisome; this needs to be stated again and again.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin opened a bridge last month to link Russia with the Crimean peninsula.
Charlie Sennott is a WGBH News analyst and the founder of The GroundTruth Project.
