Putin 'is using KGB training to manipulate Donald Trump', former adviser John Bolton tells LBC

Ahead of an Oval Office address on Tuesday evening, Mr Bolton, who served as Trump's national security adviser during his first term, said he believed the Russian leader is exploiting the President.

Putin worked for the feared Soviet security force before entering Russian politics after the fall of Communism in 1989.

Read More: Indian PM Modi holds hands with Putin at summit

Read More: Trump to hand Medal of Freedom to former NYC Mayor and close ally Rudy Giuliani

On Tonight with Andrew Marr, Mr Bolton said: "I think Putin established a relationship with him in the first term. I think personally using his KGB training to assess people, to see their weaknesses and to exploit them.

"I think he did it again in Alaska. I think Trump is likely to lose interest. I think there's some small chance he'll impose sanctions on Russia, but he sees failure here."

Referring to a campaign promise to end the Ukraine-Russia war in 24 hours, Mr Bolton added: “That was obviously never going to happen, but it hasn't happened in the first seven months of his presidency either. I think he just wants to leave it behind.

“Now, if we continue to help Ukraine with intelligence, if we continue to provide weapons, even if indirectly through Europeans, I'll be happy with that. But there's no guarantee about that.”

Mr Bolton, who served under Trump from April 2018 to September 2019, expanded on his view of Trump’s worldview.

He said: “I think Trump sees international relations through the prism of his personal relations with leaders. So if he has a good relationship with Vladimir Putin, the US Has a good relationship with Russia, that's obviously not the case.”

Mr Bolton’s comment come as a host of world leaders, including Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visited China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping.

The summit of over 20 leaders has sparked fears of an axis forming against Trump and the United States in the wake of his imposition of tariffs on countries across the globe.

Responding, Mr Bolton said: “Trump had a very good relationship personally with Modi. I think that's gone now.

“And it's a lesson to everybody, for example, Keir Starmer, that a good personal relationship may help at times, but it won't protect you from the worst.”

Mr Bolton's home was raided by federal agents on the orders of Trump's FBI Director Kash Patel in August.

Agents went to Mr Bolton’s DC-area home as part of a high-profile national security probe "in search of classified records".