Putin orders state media not to praise Trump in case talks fail

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Against the backdrop of warming relations between Russia and the United States, the presidential administration recommended that propaganda media “not praise personally” American President Donald Trump, but create an image of “a man who had the wisdom to respond to Russia’s outstretched hand,” several sources in pro-government media and a source close to the Kremlin told Verstka. “In case the negotiations do not lead to anything, we can always say, we tried, we did everything,” one of the publication’s sources explained.
According to him, any contacts between the teams of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump must be presented in a positive context. “And we must emphasize in every possible way that the contacts are not with some abstract Americans, but with Trump’s team. A man who was oppressed in every possible way both at home and in Europe. Like, they put pressure on us, they put pressure on him, but we turned out to be stronger,” the source explained to Verstka. An employee of a major state media outlet described the new information policy as follows: “We are not making promises about the end of the SVO, we are not naming deadlines. The main thing is that they made contact, and we are ready to listen.” One of the employees of the state television channel noted that there were no instructions to force anything, but the presidential administration demanded that Trump be “balanced” with statements from the Russian side. “It looks like a minefield: do not overpraise, do not underpraise. Therefore, we are switching to a simple information processing mode. To be on the safe side,” added the head of one pro-government media outlet.
Trump had previously puzzled the Kremlin with his statements on Ukraine and his harsh tone toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Bloomberg sources said. According to them, Trump's statements "exceeded all expectations" of Moscow, which sought to impose its view of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the United States. At the same time, Russia's top leadership is wary of a possible "trap" or unexpected turns from the American administration, which has so far demonstrated a willingness to make concessions. Nevertheless, the Kremlin intends to use this situation to extract maximum benefit for Russia from any deal to end the war, Bloomberg's source said.
Having promised to end the war in 24 hours, Trump held telephone talks with Putin three weeks after his inauguration, and a week later, Russian and American delegations met in Saudi Arabia without Ukraine. Following the talks, it was decided to restore the work of embassies and begin consultations on mutual "irritants", and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the possibility of easing sanctions depending on Moscow's position.
Trump himself, meanwhile, switched to almost verbatim repetition of the Kremlin propaganda narratives. He accused Zelensky of starting the war himself and called him a “dictator without elections” with a rating of 4%.