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Trump at NATO Summit: Germany ’Captive’ of Russia

Trump at NATO Summit: Germany ’Captive’ of Russia
folder_openEurope... access_time5 years ago
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Local Editor

US President Donald Trump launched a stinging attack on Germany at the start of a NATO summit in Brussels Wednesday, considering that an "inappropriate" gas deal with Moscow made it a "captive" of Russia.

Trump appeared to catch NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg unawares as he abandoned the polite formality of a breakfast meeting and lashed out at Berlin and other allies for failing to pay their way.

"Germany is captive of Russia because it is getting so much of its energy from Russia," he said, referring to Berlin's deal for the Nord Stream II gas pipeline.

"Everybody's talking about it all over the world, they're saying we're paying you billions of dollars to protect you but you're paying billions of dollars to Russia.

"Germany is totally controlled by Russia,” Trump added.

The US President will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Finnish capital on July 16 for their first summit amid an ongoing investigation in the United States into possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia.

Germany has been a frequent target for Trump, who accuses the EU's largest economy of not spending enough on defense and freeloading on the back of the United States.

Trump then repeated his wider accusation against NATO as a whole for failing to pay enough.

"We're protecting Germany, France and everybody... this has been going on for decades," Trump said

"We're not going to put up with it and it’s inappropriate," he concluded.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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