“MOSCOW — The Trump administration’s rewrite of decades of U.S. foreign policy on Russia, laid bare in the Oval Office confrontation between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is bringing Washington into alignment with Moscow, the Kremlin said Sunday — a shift that could upend the geopolitics that have governed international relations since World War II.
“The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, state television reported Sunday. “This largely aligns with our vision.”
Moscow’s vision, which has focused on a push to reclaim influence over much or all of the former Soviet Union and defeat liberal democracy, has made Russia a pariah to the West. The United States has given over a hundred billion dollars in arms and aid to Ukraine since Russia’s unprovoked invasion in 2022. Washington led allies in imposing new sanctions on Moscow; the International Criminal Court issued a warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges of war crimes.
But on Sunday, as European leaders rallied behind Zelensky in London, Peskov said the administration’s new approach could herald a new thaw between Washington and Moscow.
“There is a long way to go because a lot of damage has been done to the whole complex of bilateral relations,” he said. “But if the political will of the two leaders, President Putin and President Trump, is maintained, this path can be quite quick and successful.”
The Oval Office blowup last week, in which Vice President JD Vance accused Zelensky of insufficient gratitude for U.S. support and Trump warned that his refusal to compromise with Putin was “gambling with World War III,” has been seen here as a “gift” to the Kremlin.
President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Putin has long worked to drive wedges between the United States and its allies. On Friday, Trump echoed his accusations that Zelensky was obstructing peace efforts.
The performance stunned Russian leaders. Kirill Dmitriev, the chief of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a lead negotiator in preliminary U.S.-Russia talks, called it “historic.” Propagandist Margarita Simonyan, the editor of Russia Today, wrote that “the Oval Office has seen a lot, but never this.”
Others were gleeful. Former president Dmitry Medvedev gloated over the “proper slap down” of “the insolent pig” Zelensky, and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova marveled at Trump and Vance’s “restraint” in not punching him in the face. Zelensky’s “outrageously boorish behavior,” she wrote, “confirmed that he is the most dangerous threat to the world community.”
The meeting fit Russia’s narrative perfectly, Konstantin Remchukov, the well-connected editor of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, told The Washington Post.
Link: Baron, neddie, Eli, MAS bringing it to America.
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They’re pretending that they care about peace. Blaming Zelensky for not signing a deal that not only doesn’t benefit his country but is largely detrimental, is just idiotic.
can’t stop changing to alternate facts.
But….the funding of an unwinnable war is over.
I’m very proud as an American that President Trump has been the first and the most ardent at pushing for an end to this madness.
The problem itself arises from electing an incompetent president like Joe Biden or Barack Obama. Trump had Putin in an economic cage. He was stuck. Biden opened the door to the cage and let him out…..and then told him that a limited incursion would be fine as Putin sat with troops on the border (this was most likely a manifestation of his dementia where he publicly shared what was meant for private strategy session).
I too wish (and argued for) Biden to give Ukraine arms and back up before Putin invaded…..but he didn’t. The event is over and the opportunity past. I was pretty embarrassed that day as well. Not anymore.
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Friday tells us so.
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The coward/ traitor/ supporting the enemy/ moral compass shtick is pure conorlarkin. Try something original.
BTW Your question isn't binary. It is a false premise.
Finally, check your dan ranking before you call me a coward.
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My goodness you are as dumb as a brick.
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Yes or no?
Apparently, you don’t…just like Trump.