(Washington) Nikki Haley, Donald Trump’s only competitor in the Republican primaries in the United States, attacked the former president on Sunday for his silence over the death of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny and for his hostile statements against NATO.
“The fact that he says nothing about Navalny [montre] that either he sides with the [président russe Vladimir] Putin and thinks it’s good that he kills his political opponents, or he just doesn’t think it’s an important matter, “said on the ABC channel Mme Haley.
The death announced Friday of Alexeï Navalny in an Arctic prison, on which the Kremlin remains silent, provoked a wave of indignation from Western countries, with President Joe Biden having affirmed that his Russian counterpart was “responsible”.
But the Republican Trump, predecessor of the Democrat Biden in the White House, and who dreams of returning there, did not say a word this weekend about the death of Navalny, Russia or Mr. Putin.
His campaign team referred reporters who questioned him to Donald Trump’s latest post on his Truth Social network: “America is no longer respected because we have a president who is incompetent, weak and doesn’t understand what the world thinks. »
Nikki Haley, former UN ambassador under the Trump administration (2017-2021) and ex-governor of South Carolina, where the Republican primaries will be held on February 24, also criticized the statements “which send shivers down the spine » last weekend from its competitor against the solidarity mechanisms between NATO allies facing Moscow.
“All he did at that moment was to strengthen Putin,” said the Republican candidate.
“Let’s remind the American people that Putin said that once Ukraine is taken, Poland and the Baltics would be next […] These are NATO countries and that immediately puts America in a war situation,” warned Nikki Haley.