Donald Trump was always the favorite candidate of the Kremlin in the recent presidential election in the USA. But the first dialogue between the elected leader of the White House and his Kremlin counterpart may not have met the expectations of the Russian side. According to ‘The Washington Post’, a week ago both politicians they kept a telephone conversation in which the American demanded that he take steps towards de-escalation in the war in Ukraine, reminding him in passing of “the considerable US military presence” on the European continent, although at the same time expressing his willingness to support an agreement in which Russia could keep the conquered territory.
The next day, Olga Skabeyevaone of the Kremlin’s great propagandists, showed images of Melania Trumpthe wife of the New York tycoon, in underwear y provocative posturesa public humiliation that could never have been spread without permission from the Kremlin towards a leader with whom Putin will have to deal extensively in the coming four years. Days later, a similar message was spread by Nikolay Patrushevnumber two in the shadow of the Russian regime who, in an interview with the newspaper ‘Kommersant’ and in a totally stark languagewent so far as to say that “to succeed in the elections, Trump had relied on forces” to which he had “obligations.” “As a responsible person, you will be forced to comply with them,” the leader stressed in warning tone.
Experts in the post-Soviet space such as the Swede Anders Aslund, former senior researcher at the Atlantic Council think tank, consider that this succession of events suggests that the Russian side is not satisfied with what Trump expressed during the debate. “Check the times… this can’t have gone well for Putin,” he wrote in a ‘post’ spread by X, formerly Twitter.
Michael Boot, columnist for ‘The Washington Post’, considers that the New York magnate is testing with Russia the tactic of “escalation to de-escalate”, which was already applied in the past to North Korea and Iran, without obtaining palpable achievements regarding their nuclear programs given that both nations consider such capability as a guarantee of your survival. With Russia, in the opinion of this security expert, this scheme “could work”, since Moscow, with no existential threats in sight, would obtain “20% of the territory of Ukraine”, he writes in a column titled ‘Like Trump , the deal maker, can bring peace to Ukraine.’ and poses as the only store of Trump to pressure Putin on the possibility of Washington increasing “the sending of ama to Ukraine” and the permission to use them in Russian territory. Despite the US president’s isolationist temptations, “Trump has every incentive” (to seek a just peace in Ukraine) “if he does not want to appear as a failed deal maker.”
For now, Moscow is signaling that it does not accept such a deal. Despite the very high number of Russian casualties, the Kremlin Army is putting pressure on all fronts, while Maria Zajárovaa spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, has reported that any peace talks would “only” begin once arms shipments to Ukraine have stopped. He Institute of War Studies (ISW)for its part, assesses that “the Kremlin is trying to dictate the terms of any peace ‘negotiation’ with Ukraine before Donald Trump takes office.”
