Trump: Russia's economy is not that big, and it's having a hard time right now

President of the United States Donald Trump said that the Russian economy is "not that big" and is just going through a hard time. The US leader said this during the meeting with the British prime minister Keir Starmer in Scotland.

The US president suggested that he might be able to reach an agreement with the dictator Vladimir Putin about the end of Russia's war against Ukraine, but noted that "it is already very late in the process" and therefore he is disappointed.

"And, you know, the funny thing is that their economy is not that big, and it's going through a hard time right now. But it's a relatively small economy. A strong army, but a small economy. And [before] it was strong – now it's not. He [Putin] has gone through a lot economically, it's not easy... But it [the Russian economy] is quite small, you know, compared to the enormous size of this land. It has, I think, nine time zones or something. It's a huge piece of land," Trump said.

The politician noted that Russia could be "so wealthy" and "prosper like almost no other country [could]," but the Russians are holding it back because the United States cannot sign trade agreements with Moscow.

"He [Putin] wants to sign trade agreements with us. He talks about it all the time. And I imagine that [we could have] a lot of trade with Russia. They have a lot of valuable things. If we talk about rare earth elements, they have serious reserves [of these resources]... They have almost all forms of [rare earths] that you can find," the US president said.

So, Trump added, Russia could be very wealthy right now, but instead, the Russians "spend all their money on war."

"They spend everything on war and killing people. And for me, it makes no sense," the US leader summarized.

• At the same meeting, Trump shortened his 50-day ultimatum to Putin: he now gave the dictator "10 or 12 days" to conclude a peace deal, otherwise, secondary duties will be applied to buyers of Russian resources.
• The US President also stated that he is "not so interested" in talking to Putin anymore, since Russia is killing civilians in Ukraine with its attacks.
• Earlier, after the Foreign Intelligence Service's report, president Zelenskyy stated that Russians have "really tangible" economic losses due to sanctions against Moscow and its accomplices.