During former U.S. President Joe Biden's four years in the White House, the phrase "new Cold War" was often used to describe relations between the United States and Russia — especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine and Biden promised military aid to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
President Donald Trump, since returning to the White House, has been mildly critical of Putin at times. But on the whole, he has had a much friendlier tone with Putin and the Kremlin than the Biden Administration.
The Guardian's Shaun Walker, reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine, examples U.S./Russia relations in an article published on December 7. And Walker notes that the Kremlin has "heaped praise on Donald Trump's latest national security strategy, calling it an encouraging change of policy that largely aligns with Russian thinking."
The praise, according to Walker, followed the release of a new 33-page document called "the National Security Strategy of the United States of America," which lays out the Trump Administration's foreign policy objectives — including its ideas on Europe, which Trump officials claim is in danger of "civilization erasure."
In a statement issued on December 7, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said,
"The adjustments that we see correspond in many ways to our vision." And Peskov praised the Trump Administration for promoting "dialogue" and "good relations."
Peskov, sounding MAGA-like, argued that "the deep state" might try to undermine Trump's vision for U.S./Russian relations.
"It came as the White House's efforts to push through a peace deal in Ukraine enter a key phase," Walker notes. "U.S. officials claim they are in the final stage of reaching an agreement, but there is little sign that either Ukraine or Russia is willing to sign the framework deal drawn up by Trump's negotiating team."
Read Shaun Walker's full article for The Guardian at this link.
