The result of the conversation between US and Russian Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has predictably become the central topic of discussion among Russian propagandists, influencers, and milbloggers.
The most important aspects for them, as reflected in their messages, were:
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- Confidence that the agreements will not be implemented by Russia.
- Joy over the evening strikes on energy infrastructure in Donbas and Kyiv as evidence of a “strong” Putin.
- Confidence that Russia will not stop the war.
- Disdain for the US and Trump, who engaged in negotiations with the Kremlin.
- A clear articulation of the conversation’s results from the Kremlin, in contrast to the vague statement from the White House, where everything was described in general terms.
Now in more detail.
It is significant that this time, unlike the talks in Jeddah, Russian military propagandists devoted significantly fewer posts to reviewing the conversation between Trump and Putin. The most interesting topic of the evening was the attempt of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to break through into Russia’s Belgorod region and the prospects of a Russian offensive in the Sumy region.
However, propagandists paid more attention to the topic. Their focus was centered on confidence in Putin’s superiority over Trump and the conviction that no agreements would prevent Russia from continuing the war.
In particular, one of the frequent guests of Russian propaganda media, American philosopher Dmitry Drobnitsky, wrote the following: “Russia’s tasks remain the same. It is no coincidence that Putin spoke at the RSPP immediately before the conversation with Trump. The beginning of the offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region is in the military sphere,” Drobnitsky writes, but immediately adds that to make it easier to work with Trump, he must continue to be flattered. He is convinced that Trump is at a disadvantage regardless. Drobnitsky writes:
Russian Strikes Hit Ukraine Mere Hours After Trump-Putin Ceasefire Talks
“Russia continues to do everything to show its support for Trump. And this is a correct tactic, since he is our only situational partner in the entire West, which otherwise remains extremely hostile to us and will remain so until the European question is resolved. But this is a long-term matter. Trump will have to either give in on the Ukrainian issue, which would destroy him politically, or increasingly distance himself from Europe, but this, as I have already said, is a difficult and dangerous endeavor.”
Top Russian propagandists have generally focused on ridiculing Trump. For example, Vladimir Solovyov, the host of Russia’s main prime-time propaganda show, displayed a photo of the removal of the letters Z, V, and O in front of the American embassy, signifying only a change in outward appearances of stopping the war and paying lip-service to peace talks while continuing its full-scale aggression.
“This is all that Trump was able to extract from Putin,” Solovyov joked.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the letters would be put back so that Americans could continue looking at them; they would only undergo repairs.
Russian military propagandists are pleased that Putin violated the agreements with Trump regarding a 30-day ceasefire on energy infrastructure immediately after the talks, demonstrating force.
In the comments on the news of new strikes on Kyiv and the energy sector in Donbas, Russians expressed their enthusiasm: “Well done,” “This is a real truce!” “Hurray, salute” – these were some of the reactions from subscribers of the largest public channel Operation Z, which has almost 2 million followers.
However, more “analytical” propaganda outlets have been more restrained. The Russian channel Military Observer states that all agreements with Trump are merely “temporary giveaways” and will eventually come to an end. The channel writes:
“It is important to understand that playing such giveaways with Trump will never work. Sooner or later, either Ukraine or Russia will exhaust the possibility of making such small, insignificant steps toward the Americans. And then we will have to make a final decision – continue or not.”
The Ukrainian Pro-Russian propagandist Oleh Yasinsky, who lives in Russia, directly claims that the US is an “aging empire” and that all of Trump’s actions will ultimately be futile. Yasinsky writes:
“The peculiarity of the USA is its failure to understand the elementary laws of history and nature. Just as the aggressive ignoramuses from the ‘anti-system movements’ created by the system deny the fundamentals of human nature and despise historical lessons they are unfamiliar with, so too does the US government refuse to accept the natural decline of its empire. Trump will attempt to reverse the course of history, returning to classic American state imperialism, which will inevitably come into conflict with a stronger force—international, corporate, and anti-state imperialism.”
Overall, there is a sense of optimism in Russian online spaces, as they believe that, in their interpretation, the dialogue between the leaders has been established and that agreements are conditional at best – Russia can choose when to honor them and when to ignore them. They also openly doubt the ability of the US to pressure Russia into compliance.
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