President Donald Trump’s threats aimed at strong-arming Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine have been badly received by some politicians and nationalists in Russia who say his tactics bode ill for a deal.
Trump said on Wednesday he would likely impose new sanctions, taxes and tariffs on Russia, whose economy he said was failing, and on Moscow’s allies, unless President Vladimir Putin struck a deal with him “soon” to end the conflict.
In an apparent attempt to balance his threat with a compliment, Trump spoke of the need to never forget that Russia had helped the United States win World War II and incorrectly stated that the then Soviet Union had lost 60 million people in that conflict as opposed to the 26.6 million people estimated by the Russian authorities.
Putin and Trump have yet to speak by phone since his inauguration and, with ties with the new administration at an early stage, the Kremlin played down Trump’s threat, saying it “did not see any particularly new elements here.”
“We carefully record all the nuances. We remain ready for dialogue, President Putin has repeatedly spoken about this — for equal dialogue, for mutually respectful dialogue,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Peskov took issue though with Trump’s statement on World War II, saying it was the Soviet Union which had made the biggest contribution to victory over Nazi Germany. He also pointed out Trump’s mistake on the number of war dead.
Others spoke more plainly, saying that what they cast as Trump’s heavy-handed attitude towards Russia made a peace deal less likely.
Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy chairman of Russia’s upper house of parliament, noted that Trump had not made any demands on Ukraine in the same post on Truth Social.
“It confirms that his level of understanding of the causes, current state and prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis is approximately at the same level as his understanding of the course and outcome of World War II,” Kosachyov said in a statement. “That is to say, lower than the skirting board, which cannot but be a cause for regret and concern.”
Influential war bloggers, read by millions of Russians and licensed by the authorities, expressed outrage.
One of them, Voenkor Kotonok, said Trump’s statement was “insulting, arrogant and self-satisfied.” Another, war correspondent Alexander Kots, speculated that the Middle East ceasefire had given Trump a misplaced sense of omnipotence.
“Russia is not the Gaza Strip. And starting a dialogue with ultimatums is not the most far-sighted move on the part of a leader claiming to be a peacemaker. Moscow will never agree to any deals dictated by blackmail and threats,” Kots wrote.
Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, said Trump’s actions so far suggested he would not be able to bring peace to Ukraine, while Vladimir Solovyov, a high-profile state media talk show host, said Trump’s threats proved he was an enemy.
“Is that any way to talk to great Russia?,” an angry Solovyov told his listeners.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speech writer now designated a “foreign agent” by Russia, was among those who said he thought Trump’s strong-arm approach could backfire, a reference to the belief that Putin does not like to do anything under public pressure that could be interpreted as a sign of weakness.
“Trump could have afforded to take his time (on Ukraine), but he has decided not to drag things out and is slowly starting to apply pressure (on Russia),” Gallyamov wrote on his blog.
“There is a risk here that Putin will bite back and get in a standoff.”
