By Andrew Osborn
MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin on Wednesday rejected the central arguments for U.S. President Donald Trump’s rhetorical U-turn on the war in Ukraine, as nationalists and political insiders reacted with a mixture of defiance and mockery.
Trump on Tuesday said he believed Ukraine could retake all its land controlled by Russia and that Kyiv should act now with Moscow facing “big” economic problems, in a sudden and striking rhetorical shift in Ukraine’s favour.
The Kremlin countered that the Russian economy was stable, despite problems in some sectors caused by sanctions, and that Russian forces’ slow advance in Ukraine was part of a deliberate strategy rather than a sign of weakness.
RUSSIA REJECTS TRUMP’S ‘PAPER TIGER’ COMMENT
“Russia is not a tiger but is more associated with a bear,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the RBC radio station, after Trump called Russia a “paper tiger.”
“Paper bears don’t exist.”
Though angered by what they saw as Trump’s insulting rhetoric, Russian nationalists and political insiders interpreted his flip-flop as a sign that he was washing his hands of the war in Ukraine after his unsuccessful and unrealistic attempts to broker a quick peace deal.
They noted that he had not promised any more U.S. help to Kyiv, but rather placed the onus squarely on Ukraine itself and the European Union.
“Yes, Trump suddenly told the world about his love for Ukraine. He hoped it would ‘regain the territories it had in 1991 and, who knows, maybe even go further,” said Konstantin Malofeyev, an ultra-nationalist tycoon and political influencer.
“But the main point… is that the U.S. is washing its hands of the matter. The European Union will pay for everything. To put it even more simply: Trump has sent Ukraine to fight against Russia alongside Europe while buying weapons from the U.S.”
FOREIGN MINISTER TO SET OUT RUSSIA’S STANCE ON WEDNESDAY
Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, acknowledged the shift in Trump’s rhetoric in favour of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whom Trump met on Tuesday, but said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later on Wednesday and set out Russia’s stance.
Peskov said there were no problems with macro-economic stability and rejected Trump’s criticism of the Russian military after the U.S. president said Moscow had been fighting “aimlessly” in Ukraine.
Russia’s incremental advances in Ukraine were the result of what he called a well thought-out strategy.
“We are going forward very carefully to minimise losses and so as not to destroy our offensive potential,” said Peskov.
Dmitry Rogozin, a senator who has fought in Ukraine, said Trump was trying to stir up trouble.
“His rhetoric is so undignified that it is difficult to imagine someone like him still in office as president of a great power,” Rogozin wrote on Telegram.
Margarita Simonyan, one of Russia’s top state media executives, likened Trump to a tarot card reader promising his client – Ukraine – the impossible when he spoke of Kyiv being able to retake territory.
“Trump debuts as the tarot card reader telling the thrice-divorced lady that she is going to meet that billionaire prince after all, as long as she buys the magic crystals,” Simonyan wrote on X.
(Reporting by Andrew OsbornEditing by Sharon Singleton)
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