Trump at UN: NATO states "funding war against themselves" by buying Russian energy

US President Donald Trump has reiterated his expectation that Europe must abandon Russian energy resources as quickly as possible, stressing that by continuing to buy them European states "are funding the war against themselves".

Midway through his speech, Trump referred to the Russo-Ukrainian war and again stated that it "would never have started if I were president". He added that he considers depriving Russia of profits from energy sales an important factor in bringing peace closer – and that he expects full cooperation from Europe in this matter.

"China and India are the primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil. But inexcusably, even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products… I found out about it two weeks ago, and I wasn’t happy. Think of it. They are funding the war against themselves," Trump said in his address to the UN General Assembly.

Trump went on to say that if Russia continues to show no willingness to negotiate an end to the war, the US is ready to impose "a very strong round of powerful tariffs which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly".

"But for those tariffs to be effective, European nations… would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures," the US president stressed.

He underlined that European countries are far closer to the threat, unlike America, which is on another continent.

"They can’t be doing what they’re doing. They’re buying oil and gas from Russia while they’re fighting Russia… They have to immediately cease all energy purchases from Russia. Otherwise, we are all wasting a lot of time," Trump said.

The US president added that he plans to discuss this issue with European leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has once again stated that his country will not give up Russian energy resources despite Trump’s demand.