Trump suggests that US recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea

However, the US hasn’t recognized the legitimacy of Russian referendums in Crimea and believes they were not conducted fairly.

Trump, in an interview with ABC News, said he has “no relationship” with Putin and has never met with him or spoken with him by phone.

“We know that Donald Trump has shown a very troubling willingness to back up Putin, to support Putin, whether it’s saying that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation wouldn’t come to the rescue of allies if they were invaded, talking about removing sanctions from Russian officials after they were imposed by the U.S. and Europe together, because of Russia’s aggressiveness in Crimea and Ukraine, his praise for Putin which is I think quite remarkable”, she said. He said, however, that he was not involved in Republicans’ softening of their platform language to remove a call to provide Ukraine with lethal weaponry.

But perhaps further fanning controversy, Mr. Trump added that as President he would at least consider acknowledging Russian sovereignty over Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Russia annexed in 2014 in the face of widespread worldwide condemnation.

Democrats and United States cybersecurity experts said it appeared Russian Federation had attempted to influence the American campaign in Trump’s favor.

On the topic of Putin and Ukraine, the Republican said: “He’s not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand”.

“I recognize that flexibility and creativity might actually be good selling used cars and selling real estate, but when you want to be the head of an worldwide superpower, precision and consistency are really important”, Hayden told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

“This is scary stuff”, Clinton campaign spokesman Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

Trump’s “absolute allegiance to a lot of Russian wish-list foreign policy positions” is among the reasons he is unfit to be commander in chief, Clinton, a former USA senator, secretary of state and first lady, said in the Fox interview. “And for Trump to both encourage that and to praise Putin despite what appears to be a deliberate effort to try to affect the election, I think, raises national security issues”.

Asked why he had said several times in the past that he had a relationship with Putin, Trump said he doesn’t know what “having a relationship” means. “I remember years ago, he said something, many years ago, he said something very nice about me”.

Washington will not tolerate hacking from any other country, especially one considered an adversary, the US Democratic presidential candidate said.