Russia is a bear and “there’s nothing paper about it”, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said on Wednesday morning, insisting its war against Ukraine is “not aimless” and that economic factors and a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky must have influenced U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance.
Russia declined to respond to President Trump’s latest remarks on the progress of the Ukraine War, where he encouraged Kyiv to keep fighting to retake its own territory and — he implied — possibly even capture some Russian land on Tuesday, stating the remarks came too late into the night Moscow time to be dealt with immediately.
Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin’s personal spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave a wide-ranging interview to Russian state radio on Wednesday morning, where he articulated the evident upset felt in Moscow over President Trump stating Russia’s failure to capture the whole of Ukraine and the “aimless” three years of fighting betrayed the country as a “paper tiger”.
Peskov said, “Russia is definitely not a tiger. After all, Russia is more often compared to a bear.
“There are no ‘paper bears’ and Russia is a real bear. Putin has repeatedly and with varying degrees of emotion described our bear. There’s nothing paper about it”.
The Kremlin spokesman also said “this war is not aimless” and that its purpose is to ensure Russian “safety”. Russia has “no alternative” but to keep fighting, Peskov continued, and insisted that, quite contrary to President Trump’s remarks, Ukraine simply cannot win.
Peskov stated: “They must not forget that with every passing day that the Ukrainian side refuses to negotiate, the Ukrainian side’s position will only worsen. This is the reality. And the dynamics on the front lines are more than eloquent evidence of this”. Again, countering President Trump’s observations, the Russian economy is strong and capable of sustaining the military, Peskov told the radio audience.
As for why President Trump has embarked on a seemingly new direction on the Ukraine War, Peskov presented two reasons. Sidestepping President Trump’s constant signalling in recent weeks that he feels deeply disappointed and let down by Russian President Putin’s failure to engage in peace talks in good faith, Peskov asserted that Trump may have been swayed by a sit-down meeting with Ukraine’s President Zelensky, and by trade considerations.
The Kremlin spokesman said, “President Trump has never hidden his intention to ensure the economic interests of the United States. The simplest thing is to force the entire world to buy American oil at a higher price and American liquefied natural gas at a higher price… Perhaps the Americans can force [Europeans] to do this”.
Claiming that President Zelensky has a hidden talent for persuading President Trump to change his mind and toe the Kyiv line, Peskov said: “They met yesterday. Naturally, Mr Trump heard Zelensky’s version of what was happening. And, apparently, at this point, this version was the reason for the assessment we heard”.
Peskov was not the only Russian to lean into the idea that Zelensky is pulling puppet strings. Moscow hothead Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian President best known for periodic threats of nuclear armageddon against his perceived enemies and blaming all Russia’s misfortunes on Ukraine, said Trump was directionless and would quickly forget what he’d been told to say by Zelensky.
He added in a social media post, written in conscious satire of President Trump’s style and signed off with the U.S. leaders’ characteristic salutation “thank you for your attention to this subject!”, that Trump had ended up in an “alternative reality” inhabited by “Obama and Biden”. He said: “I have no doubt he will return. He always returns. Probably in a couple of days, or fly to Mars with Musk”.
As reported on Tuesday, President Trump had posted an encouraging message for Ukraine without dedicating the U.S. to any further support beyond continuing to sell weapons to NATO. As stated:
President Donald Trump said Russia’s inability to make progress against Ukraine after three years of grinding warfare has convinced him Ukraine could win a total victory with help from Europe and the United States, pushing the Russians completely off Ukrainian soil… “With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option,” the president mused.
…“Why not?” Trump asked on Tuesday. “Russia has been fighting aimlessly, for three and a half years, a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger.’”
Trump taunted Putin by suggesting the Russian people would turn on him if they knew how badly he had bungled the war… “Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act,” the president urged.
“In any event, I wish both Countries well. We will continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them. Good luck to all!” he concluded.
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