By EUvsDisinfo
Putin is angling for another high-profile sit-down with Trump, but this time, the location and stakes are different. Behind the diplomatic bravado, we see a familiar playbook of strategic flattery, poorly veiled ultimatums, and lies after lies.
The Kremlin is practically giddy with anticipation about a possible summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. But this time, don’t expect the meeting to be held in Helsinki. Instead, Russia is reportedly eyeing Saudi Arabia or the UAE as potential locations. Senior Russian officials have already made visits to these countries, laying the groundwork. In the lead-up to a potential summit, Putin has gone out of his way to shower the American president with praise.
Putin has called Trump a ‘very strong person’ and even released a video congratulating him on his election win – something he had never done in 25 years of power. Normally, Putin’s message to incoming US presidents is a short public telegram, but this time, he made an exception, delivering a full-on video message emphasising his supposed openness to ‘dialogue’.
Reloading ultimatums
However, he is likely gearing up to repeat some familiar ultimatums. Expect him to push for the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from regions Russia claims to have annexed (also even if they do not actually have full military control of them). He will also likely insist that Ukraine abandon its NATO ambitions, which are written into the Ukrainian constitution, and demand the lifting of Western sanctions against Russia.
Additionally, pro-Kremlin outlets have been honing in on a particular narrative: Zelenskyy is allegedly an ‘illegitimate’ leader. Putin recently claimed it would be impossible to negotiate with Zelenskyy, stating, ‘He doesn’t have the right to sign anything.’ Of course, if Zelenskyy’s up for talks, Putin would promise to send ‘someone appropriate’ to do the negotiating. But, when it comes to signing any formal agreement, Putin insisted that it would be impossible to have Zelenskyy at the other end.
The claim of ‘illegitimacy’ on repeat
Putin even went as far as to say that, due to his supposed ‘illegitimacy’, Zelenskyy would not be able to lift his own 2022 ban on negotiations with Russia – something Zelenskyy had decreed when he was, in Putin’s words, a ‘legitimate’ president.
While repeating the word does not make it any truer, this whole ‘illegitimacy’ narrative ultimately serves one purpose: to justify not having direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. Ukraine’s constitution is pretty clear: no elections can be held during wartime, and the president stays in office until a new one is elected. Zelenskyy recently confirmed that once the hot phase of the war is over and martial law is lifted, Ukraine will definitely hold democratic elections.
The old dream of parity
Moscow’s attempts reflect a decade-old dream of restoring the image of parity with Washington, just like in the cold-war days when the two nuclear superpowers decided global security. Now it is a thinly veiled attempt to secure an exclusive US-Russia dialogue over the heads of Ukraine.
In other news…
Meanwhile, Russian propagandists have been keeping a close eye on the other side of the Atlantic. Russian pundit Vladimir Solovyov gleefully commented, ‘It’s awesome, right? The Canadians and the Mexicans thought everything was fine!’ in response to recent North American events. As for the measures concerning suspending USAID operations, Kremlin outlets have falsely claimed the organisation had ‘toppled 83 governments’ worldwide. Russian outlets are now urging the Kremlin to step in and create a Russian version of the assistance programme.
At the same time, pro-Kremlin outlets have been paying close attention to recent proposals where Kyiv would guarantee supplies of rare earth resources – key elements used in electronics – in exchange for U.S. military aid. Seeing that many of these rare earth minerals are located in areas that Russia temporarily occupies and falsely claims, Russian propagandists are nervously hoping those areas are not part of a US plan.
In digital news, Russian state TV recently claimed China’s AI chatbot, DeepSeek, had been developed using a Soviet-era programming code from 1985. However, this was not just another state-made fabrication. It came from a satirical news article that had absurdly been mistaken for truth by Russia’s flagship news programme.
And in a final act of bravado, Kremlin propagandists have proudly announced that the French woman who was found guilty of slandering presidential wife Brigitte Macron has sought asylum in Russia, the ‘last beacon of free speech’.
Also on the EUvsDisinfo radar this week:
- Baltic Sea: In an effort to manipulate actual events, pro-Kremlin outlets have been portraying the navies of NATO countries as ‘pirates’, after Swedish authorities recently boarded a vessel to conduct an investigation after an undersea fibre optic cable was cut, almost certainly as a result of misuse of the ship’s anchor. As there were initial suspicions of deliberate sabotage, a criminal act, Sweden was exercising a lawful right to protect its critical infrastructure. Swedish authorities later ruled out sabotage, adding the damage happened by accident. The incident took place just two months after a tanker carrying Russian oil was stopped by Finnish authorities on suspicions of sabotage.
- Moldova: Accuse your enemy of what you are doing, as you are doing it. Moscow is claiming Chisinau decided to stop allowing gas supplies to Transnistria, when in fact the Russian state company Gazprom interrupted the supply after a gas transit contract with Ukraine expired, with Kyiv refusing to extend it. Even though Moldova has a valid gas contract until 2026, and Chisinau identified alternative transit routes, Gazprom refused to resume deliveries.
- Auschwitz liberation ceremony: As per tradition, state Russian outlets have been busy accusing the West of Russophobia, Nazism and historical revisionism for not inviting any Russian delegation to the commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. However, this was obviously not because of any alleged Western ‘historical revisionism’ or ‘support for Ukrainian Nazism’, but because of the Kremlin’s decision to start the largest military conflict in Europe since the end of WWII. See also our article: The Kremlin’s misuse of Nazism as a weapon of information manipulation
By EUvsDisinfo
