(MOSCOW) – Russian newspapers have described US President Donald Trump’s decision to purchase Russian diesel as a “gift” and a “beautiful deal,” while acknowledging that Moscow intends to use the arrangement to intensify its war against Ukraine.
The pro-Kremlin daily Komsomolskaya Pravda said Moscow received the “present” right after the birthday of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. The paper described the move as a wonderful opportunity for Russia to make money.
It added that Moscow’s plan is to “fill up the coffers, play up to Trump, and make this a no-win situation for Zelenskyy.” The newspaper claimed Trump’s decision is an expression of gratitude from a US president who is “so in need of that outstretched hand from the Russian capital.”
Other headlines echoed this celebratory tone. Kommersant ran the headline “Friendship in exchange for diesel,” while Moskovsky Komsomolets declared “what incredible times” and stated that for the first time, what Trump is offering is “truly beneficial to Russia.”
One paper, linked to the parliamentary assembly of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the headline “Exit now. Goodbye.” Argumenty i Fakty wrote that it is as if Trump has sent Zelenskyy “a rotten fish in a newspaper” in the language of the Italian and American mafia of the 1930s, a warning that he is a “marked man.”
Trump has claimed that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries have been driving up global fuel prices. However, even the Russian government paper Rossiyskaya Gazeta did not support that claim, writing instead about the rise in oil prices globally due to the crisis in the Middle East, referring to Trump’s war on Iran.
The paper stated that the US leader’s aim is to convince Americans that high prices at the pumps are not linked to the Middle East crisis, but to the halt in fuel supplies from Russia caused by Ukrainian strikes.
Moskovsky Komsomolets added that Trump is “shifting the blame for the fuel crisis onto Zelenskyy” and demonstrating his concern for ordinary Americans. The paper then made clear Moscow’s intentions.
It wrote: “For the time being, the whole situation is developing in our favour and we should use this to the maximum. We should use this window of opportunity to hammer Ukraine back to the stone age and force it to make peace on Russia’s terms.” The newspaper suggested that Russia’s aim remains capitulation by Kyiv.
Despite Trump’s promotion of the diesel deal, there are doubts it will bring down fuel prices in America. The volumes of diesel agreed are insufficient for a sustained fall in prices in the US, making it difficult to see how the agreement would help the Republican party in the upcoming midterm elections.
Yezhednevny Zhurnal offered one explanation, suggesting Trump has given up on the elections and decided he has already lost Congress. The paper said a repeat of the nightmare of his first term awaits him, including a series of investigations, impeachment, and possibly prison.
It said that in the time he has left, he can be himself, noting that Putin is the type of politician Trump likes, while Zelenskyy is the opposite. Trump also harbours grudges and has not forgotten Zelenskyy’s refusal to provide compromising material on Biden back in 2019, the paper added.
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