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Kremlin more interested in what Trump will do to America than what he’ll do for Russia, Pavlova says

byPaul A. Goble
25/01/2017
2 minute read
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is seen through the audience before participating in a roundtable event, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016, in Miami. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Kremlin more interested in what Trump will do to America than what he’ll do for Russia, Pavlova says
Edited by: A. N.

Almost all discussions about the relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have focused on what the new US president may do for Russia and why, but Irina Pavlova argues that it misses the point, because the Kremlin is far more interested in what Trump will do to America than what he will do for Russia.

Irina Pavlova, Russian historian
Irina Pavlova

In a blog post yesterday, the US-based Russian historian notes that Trump is reported to be extremely popular in the Putin regime but extremely unpopular among those who oppose Putin, a pattern many explain by pointing to similarities in the personality of the two leaders.

According to Pavlova, such conclusions are based on “superficialities.” In fact, she says, “Kremlin propagandists hope that Trump will become an American Gorbachev who will lead the US into a crisis and in the end destroy this country.” She points to Karen Shakhnazarov’s comments on Vladimir Solovyev’s Sunday Evening talk show of two days ago.

But even more open in the expression of such Moscow hopes is commentator Maksim Shevchenko who has declared on Ekho Moskvy that

Trump “is a symbol of a deep and insuperable social, political and economic divide in America in particular and the Larger West as a whole” that can only lead to violence.

His shouting of “long live Trump” is thus not a manifestation of any affection for the US and its new president, but rather “an exalted expression of the very same anti-Americanism” the Putin regime has long expressed and cultivated. Shevchenko adds that he will support anyone in the US who promotes “confrontation” with Trump because that will weaken the US.

Some obvious, if unintended, support for Pavlova’s conclusion has just been offered by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and returned head of Putin’s party of power, United Russia. He makes it clear that Moscow isn’t looking at what Trump will do for Russia but rather what Trump will do to the US.

At the United Russia congress, the Russian premier said the following about Trump’s rise to power and about that of other leaders in the West who some in Moscow expect to end sanctions and work more closely with the Russian government.

“In general, it is time to turn away from illusions that any sanctions will be removed in relation to our country. It is obvious that all that has happened is for the long haul. There is no reason to place one’s hopes on elections abroad or on the coming to power of new foreign leaders.”

The prime minister’s remarks on this point, Kazan’s Business-Gazeta notes today, “were supported by the stormy applause of congress delegates” who have taken the point that they should not be placing any of their hopes on US President Donald Trump.

Edited by: A. N.
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