Donald Trump does something to Putin that the Kremlin hates, but he can use it perfectly [OPINIA]
Now it seems that the US President has been delayed that his efforts did not bring any results because of Putin himself. During the UN General Assembly last week, Trump finally gave vent to his frustration, publishing on the Truth Social Post about the fact that Russia is a “paper tiger” and that Ukraine can regain all territories conquered by Russia.
Of course, it will only turn out whether Trump is ready to support these extremely strong words with real actions. So far, however, his efforts to suspend weapons have made peace a more distant perspective. This is due to the fact that for some reason Trump is not willing to exert any pressure on Russia.
As he was overheard during a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron in the White House, Trump believes that Putin wants to agree with him. And although he is not willing to exert pressure on Putin, escalation of activities may be the only way to achieve this.
Trump's reluctance to negotiate with Moscow only dared Putin, who does not see the risk of retaliation. Putin basically follows in accordance with the maxim of Włodzimierz Lenin: “Take a bayonet: if you come across a slurry, press. If you come across steel, withdraw.”
In Trump, Putin found a pulp.
Until recently, the restraint of the US President was visible in his ambiguous response to Russia's violation of the airspace of Poland, NATO ally, by at least 19 drones, stating that “it could be a mistake”, despite clear signs indicating something else. Even when during the UN General Assembly, he ordered NATO allies to shoot down Russian aircraft violating their airspace, he still questioned whether the drones over Denmark were Russian.
The President of the United States Donald Trump (P) and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the airport before a meeting at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson at Anchorage in Alaska, USA, August 15, 2025.Gavril Grigorov / Kremlin Pool / Sputnik / / PAP
If Moscow is testing Trump's reaction, she certainly must be satisfied.
He threatened sanctions against Russia many times, but these threats turned out to be empty. The dates passed without any consequences, and Putin skillfully threw Trump bone, juicy enough to avoid punishment – but without real meat.
Currently, Trump makes the imposition of new sanctions and customs duties on Russia from the suspension of Hungary and Slovakia of the import of Russian gas. Although this can effectively strengthen Europe's position towards Russia, it seems rather Trump's subversion to avoid imposing new sanctions.
In this situation Of course, Moscow saw that the leader of the United States avoids exerting real pressure. This is a kind of weakness that the Kremlin hates, but which it can use perfectly. The question is whether the newly discovered hawk attitude Trump is only rhetoric.
Continued article under video material
Trump must tighten the bolt of Russia
For his part, Putin is not interested in suspending weapons. He believes that his forces slowly but effectively destroy Ukrainian defense, and Western support for Kiev will weaken over time. He believes that Russia will ultimately achieve its goals on the battlefield – despite the high human and material costs. And if an agreement is concluded, he believes that the longer it rests, the better the conditions will be.
In the absence of a real perspective of pressure by the United States, he escalated the war: since May, Russia has conducted several powerful attacks with drones and rockets on Kiev and other Ukrainian cities. In recent weeks, Moscow has attacked “decision centers” and no longer worried whether as a result of raids they would be destroyed by the embassy of other countries. Then, on September 7, Russia carried out the largest attack on Kiev so far, using over 800 drones, including hitting the building of the Council of Ministers, in which the Prime Minister of Ukraine works.
If Trump is serious about the suspension of a weapon, he must finally tighten the Russian screw to change Moscow's calculations. Putin should understand that a ceasefire will bring him more benefits than war. In this way, Trump could achieve deescitation.
The West could achieve this by imposing strict sanctions – especially secondary sanctions – on the export of energy and the Russian shadow fleet, as well as by taking frozen Russian assets worth EUR 300 billion.
Then increase both the quantity and the quality of military assistance for Ukraine. Kyiv needs the ability to carry out deep strikes and green light to use them against military goals in Russia.
Then, using previous activities in the field of security guarantee, Europe and the United States should jointly take over the strategic initiative and perform an operation of patrolling the aircraft over Western Ukraine – even before the suspension of weapons.
Such an operation should be integrated with the Ukrainian air defense, helping to protect the country against mass attacks of Russian drones and rockets. Air defense systems based on land in front countries, such as Poland and Romania, could also be used to capture Russian drones and rockets over Ukraine, before they reach the airspace of NATO allies – invading into the Polish airspace shows how much NATO must strengthen its drones, if he wants to stop Russia.
Finally, NATO allies should send to Ukraine soldiers performing functions of non -supporting support, such as training, intelligence and logistics, which would show that they are ready to get involved more.
Such actions would be a strong signal for Moscow that the United States and Europe are ready to increase pressure on Russia – and this could be enough to make Putin to suspend weapons.
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Fredrik Wesslau is an outstanding political expert at the Stockholm Center for Studies on Eastern Europe and a senior advisor at Rasmussen Global. Earlier he was the deputy head of the EU advisory mission in Ukraine.
