ST. PETERSBURG. June 16 (Interfax) - The situation in Ukraine could go down a different route under a different U.S. administration, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"In regards to Mr. Trump, a great many sanctions and restrictions were imposed on Russia during his presidency. Note that there were no serious, tragic events in Ukraine, none at all, yet sanctions were imposed. But I am not ruling out that were there another administration, we would still have managed to proceed with a peace plan, which unfortunately was rejected both in Ukraine and in Western capitals," Putin said when fielding questions during a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, on Friday.
Putin was responding to a request for his opinion on remarks by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who said that if he had been president, the armed conflict in Ukraine would not have happened.