One of them happened to be nuclear weapons and nuclear negotiations. “There were policies that Trump was actually genuinely committed to. There were some different sides to Mr Trump, she added, and one was a real fear of nuclear war. That was because Mr Trump wanted to look tough in front of Mr Putin. Ironically, the policy initially was quite tough towards Russia, she said. That’s how Trump saw himself too, the swashbuckling James Bond-esque tough guy,” she said.

“Putin for Trump was the ultimate strongman, as Americans say, a badass. She says that as president, Mr Trump had no views on Russia but had strong views on the Russian president.

He wants to undermine the Irish sense and faith in your own system and your own capabilities and abilities to withstand pressure.”ĭr Hill referred to the incident in early 2022 where Irish trawlers had a stand-off with the Russian navy and were accused of being aggressive. We have had Elon Musk piling in there and other people as well. I bet you the Russians have been playing up what happened in Dublin over the last few days to the hilt. Citing the riots that occurred in Dublin last week she said: “That’s what they want to do.

The Republic of Ireland needs to “buckle up” and stand firm against Russian president Vladimir Putin’s regime because it will exploit any opportunity to interfere with Irish politics, according to an expert on Russian affairs who has served three US presidents.įiona Hill was most recently a deputy assistant to then president Donald Trump and a senior director for European and Russian affairs on the US National Security Council from 2017 to 2019.ĭr Hill is in Ireland for a five-day visit and said the modus operandi of Russia under Mr Putin was to try to undermine the faith that people in European and other western countries had in their systems.

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