Former US President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised Russian leader Vladimir Putin, describing his decision to recognize independence as “great”. Donbass breakaway provinces in eastern Ukraine.

“Here we have a very smart guy. I know him very well,” Trump said, referring to Putin during an interview on a conservative radio show.

According to the former Republican president, His first reaction after seeing the head of the Kremlin recognizing the independence of the separate Ukrainian provinces was to think: “That’s great.”

“Putin now says: It is a large part of an independent Ukraine.” I said: How smart is this? Trump joked that a military force like the one deployed by Russia should be sent to the US border with Mexico to control irregular immigration.

The former US president, who during his tenure always claimed to be in good harmony with Putin, argued that the current situation would not have happened to him in the White House.

“I think he sees this opportunity. I knew I’d always loved Ukraine. I was talking to him about it. I told him: You can’t do it, you won’t do it.”But I saw that I wanted to. (…) We were talking about it in depth, ”he emphasized about his conversations with the Russian President.

Trump also expected China to follow Russia’s lead and try to do some action with Taiwan.

The former president, who has hinted that he is considering running for the 2024 presidential election, also published a statement today on the crisis in Ukraine, asserting there was “no reason” to get to this point and blame his successor, Joe Biden.