Subdued euphoria in the Kremlin, the big beneficiary of the Trump-Zelensky divorce

MoscowOn March 1st, spring begins in Russia and this year the joy is doubled. In Moscow, the government has received with enthusiasm, almost as an unexpected gift, The surrealist stuck between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House. Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin's hard core are strategically and prudently silent and only make themselves heard through their hardest wing, which is the one who sets the pace in the United States. The more sympathetic press does join in the party, while analysts consider that this public divorce paves the way for Russia to achieve peace on its terms. However, they also ask that no one be carried away by the softness: they understand that Trump could stop the war tomorrow and that if he doesn't do it, it's because he doesn't want to.

"What happened is useful, but it's not enough. We have to stop military aid to the Nazi machine." This was written by Dmitri Medvedev, former Russian president and current vice president of the Security Council, a few minutes after the videos of the scene in the Oval Office began to circulate frantically through the main Russian Telegram channels. Medvedev pointed the way to the US government, which hours later would leak that it was considering withdrawing military support for Ukraine. The former Kremlin leader, who represents the most Trumpist wing of the Russian government in terms of communication methods, also called Zelensky a "coke-addled clown" and an "ungrateful pig."

Another of the Kremlin's most radical voices, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, has even suggested that after the Ukrainian president's comment that the United States will eventually feel the effects of the war, there is a terrorist threat from Ukraine. She also considers it "a miracle of resilience" that Trump and Vice President JD Vance "did not punch" Zelensky.

Russia wins, but can't say wheat

Despite the poorly concealed triumphalism, Kremlin sources explain in the newspaper Viorstka that the events of Friday at the White House "do not change anything." They acknowledge that Russia is in a better position to face the negotiations, but insist that the roadmap must not change.

Several analysts agree in highlighting that Putin is the great beneficiary of the division between the United States and Ukraine. For example, Dmitri Suslov, an expert in international relations, believes that we are facing the "total failure" of the negotiations and believes that the possibilities of resolving the war through Russian-American conversations have increased "significantly," "mainly in Russian terms." In fact, one of the men called to play a decisive role on the Russian side of the negotiations, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the country's sovereign fund, has described the mess between Trump and Zelensky as "historic."

However, other commentators favorable to the regime do not declare victory. The director of one of Moscow's leading international relations research centres, Maksim Suchkov, admits that Zelensky's visit gives "an additional boost" to Russia, but that Elon Musk has it in his hands to end the war by immediately deactivating the Starlink satellite system that provides coverage to the Ukrainian army: if he does not do so, it is because ". Analyst Anton Grixanov also now sees the Kremlin with "additional cards" to impose itself in the negotiations, although he warns that the positions of Moscow and Washington "still diverge" and that Donald Trump's "explosive temperament" "can lead to many surprises". The analysts themselves recall that this week the American president extended the sanctions against Russia.

Zelensky, "humiliated"

Where there is an unsurprising unanimity is in the humiliation of the Ukrainian president. Beyond the insults and mockery of the most ultra propagandists, official newspapers such as the Komsomolskaya Pravda and News They speak of a "public beating" and claim that Zelensky "made a fool of himself" and that he is "finished." According to some analysts, the Ukrainian president has shown that he has no desire to reach agreements and that all he wanted was to prolong the conflict. They argue that Zelensky's primary objective was to "demonstrate a reluctance to negotiate" and that his mistake was "flagrant" because he missed the opportunity to persuade Trump to adopt a position more favorable to his interests. Finally, the correspondent of Russian state television in New York, Valentin Bogdanov, believes that if Zelensky returns to the United States, he will probably do so as an accused of embezzling the hundreds of thousands of dollars he has spent on the defense of Ukraine.