Donald Trump offered up his services to “head up a group” to help international leaders resolve the geopolitical quagmire that has opened after the discovery of gas leaks in major Russian gas pipelines to Europe.
On Tuesday, Sweden’s Maritime Authority said it had issued a warning after the learning of leaks on the Russian-owned Nord Stream 1 pipeline in Swedish and Danish waters, shortly after another one was found on the nearby Nord Stream 2 project.
“There are two leaks on Nord Stream 1 – one in Swedish economic zone and one in Danish economic zone. They are very near each other,” a Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) spokesperson told Reuters.
While the cause of the leaks remains unexplained, European leaders began floating the idea that Russian interference could be to blame.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki labelled the events “an act of sabotage”, while Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday that it was clear the leaks were caused by “deliberate actions” and she “cannot rule out” sabotage after the leaks were detected.
The former US president took those accusations one step further and predicted that the knock-on effects of the natural gas leaks could lead to “war” and later offered up his own expertise to negotiate between Russian President Vladimir Putin and European leaders so as to prevent any unnecessary ratcheting up.
“This could lead to major escalation, or War!” the one-term president warned in an early morning Wednesday post on Truth Social. “U.S. “Leadership” should remain “cool, calm, and dry” on the SABOTAGE of the Nord Stream Pipelines. This is a big event that should not entail a big solution, at least not yet,” he wrote, before noting that “The Russia/Ukraine catastrophe should NEVER have happened, and would definitely not have happened if I were President.”
“Do not make matters worse with the pipeline blowup. Be strategic, be smart (brilliant!), get a negotiated deal done NOW. Both sides need and want it,” he posted. “The entire World is at stake. I will head up group???”
Though the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has never operated, Nord Stream 1 had been carrying gas to Germany until earlier this month, when Russian energy giant Gazprom cut off the supply, claiming there was a need for urgent maintenance work to repair key components.
Both pipelines, despite not delivering gas to the European continent, are still filled with gas, German news agency DPA reported.
During his tenure inside the Oval Office, and continuing in the years after he left, Trump has repeatedly bragged about his close relationship with the Russian president, boasting as recently as the springtime that he knows him “very well”.
Despite the ongoing invasion of Ukraine directed by Moscow, the president has maintained to speak about Mr Putin in glowing terms.
Speaking to conservative radio hosts Buck Sexton and Clay Travis in February, Trump said: “I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”
One day after delivering those remarks, the one-term president doubled down despite facing a wrath of criticism for calling the invading leader “smart”.
“They say, ‘Trump said Putin’s smart.’ I mean, he’s taking over a country for two dollars’ worth of sanctions. I’d say that’s pretty smart. He’s taking over a country – really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in,” he said while addressing a crowd at his Mar-a-Lago estate for a fundraiser.
