Trump’s Embrace of the Kremlin Throws Russian Elites and Propagandists Into Disarray

Our community is also divided. Some say: ‘Don’t believe it, nothing will come of this. It’s all a circus — Trump doesn’t make the real decisions, the deep state does’,

said a current Russian diplomat

Trump is a talented performer and a master strategist. He’s luring us into a long-planned script designed to daze, then weaken and subdue Russia. The intrigues of the U.S., NATO and the EU are part of a coordinated policy. We mustn’t trust them — we must continue pursuing our own interests,

warned another Russian diplomat

The thaw is good. Tensions with Europe and Ukraine are bad. We need to negotiate with everyone,

said a former Kremlin official

In my circle, people have mostly swallowed this [believed in real reconciliation]. Everyone is tired of war. They think Putin has won. Trump benefits too — he’s a businessman, he makes deals. Europe hasn’t adapted. Blah blah blah,

said a senior executive at a major state-linked corporation

Some of my acquaintances are already quietly dusting off their Visas and Mastercards, hoping that sanctions will be lifted and new opportunities will arise,

said a former high-ranking Russian official in the banking sector

[Rapprochement with the U.S.] is an illusion! The only thing worse than an Anglo-Saxon enemy is an Anglo-Saxon friend,

said a former senior government official now working at a state corporation

Indeed, as a share of GDP it looks to be harsher than what the victorious allies imposed on Germany in the Peace of Versailles after World War I, ... To squeeze the war-crippled country for all we can, simply because we can, would be despicable."

The outlet wrote of Trump's proposed deal ... and added

The better strategy than beating up Ukraine is making clear to Mr. Putin the arms and pressure he’ll face if the Russian doesn’t wind down the war to accept a durable peace,

the editorial concluded

We realize that the ruthless men who rule much of the world can’t be ignored. But usually those men aren’t rewarded with a visit to the U.S., as Mr. Trump hinted last week, before they’ve made any compromises,

said the board

Any peace Mr. Putin strikes has to be made with all of his legacy of destruction in mind,

it concluded

Last week Mr. Trump said Ukraine can’t join NATO and must give up much of its territory to Russia—concessions to Mr. Putin with nothing in return,

it wrote

Putin will be thrilled to have Trump as a negotiating partner

As Unger wrote in his book

Buddy, our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it

In an email to Trump's lawyer later that year, Sater boasted

Russia, Russia, Russia.

When the controversy over his Russian links reached fever pitch in 2019, Trump sought to lampoon what he saw as his critics' obsessiveness by sarcastically parroting

TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next.

It was the Moscow-born Sater who identified a site for a Trump skyscraper and, while plans for the project were dogged by delays, Trump was optimistic enough after holding 2013's Miss Universe pageant in Russia, to tweet

A peace agreement that is broadly favourable to all sides would have macroeconomic benefits: it could set the basis for a modest pick-up in some Russian pipeline gas flows to Europe [and] the easing of Western sanctions on Russia,

he noted in emailed comments

The decision by the U.S. and Russia to 'lay the groundwork' to end the war in Ukraine marks a potentially significant turning point after three years of conflict,

Liam Peach, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said in a note Tuesday

Vladimir Putinpresident

I rate [the negotiations] highly, there is a result,

Putin said

For now, it is necessary to clean up the legacy of the Biden administration, which did everything to destroy ... the very foundation of long-term partnership between our countries,

Lavrov said, commenting on the possibility of strategic cooperation between Russia and United States, Russian state news agency Tass reported

In general, as I was told, it [the mood] was very friendly. On the American side, there were entirely different people who were open to the negotiation process without any bias, without any prejudice to what was done in the past,

he said in comments translated by NBC News