The author believes that Russia achieved its goal thanks to proven tactics of stalling for time, manipulation and compliments to US President Donald Trump, who is partial to flattery.
The media cites as an example one of Moscow’s latest steps, which was a telephone conversation with Trump, initiated by Putin on the eve of the meeting of the Kremlin head with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The journalist is convinced that this was not an accident, but an attempt to get ahead of the proposed US decision to transfer Tomahawk long-range missiles to Ukraine. Previously, the Kremlin threatened escalation over this in order to put pressure on the American president.
According to the author of the article, the Kremlin has achieved its goal. After all, Trump changed his harsh rhetoric to softer ones, announced “significant progress” and announced a new summit with Putin, this time in Europe. He named Hungary as the location of the summit.
As Sky News notes, the scenario is repeating itself. Every time Trump demonstrates his readiness to increase pressure on Russia, Putin finds a way to “neutralize the threat,” without concessions or compromises on the part of the Russian Federation. The media recalled Putin’s previous promises that helped him delay American sanctions. Now the head of the Kremlin is doing the same. This is evidenced by the call initiated by Putin, Trump’s praise for peace in Gaza, US First Lady Melania Trump’s gratitude for her concern for Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, and the promise of a photo shoot. Putin gives Trump what he can sell as a diplomatic success, and gets the most important thing – time, the journalist believes.
If the US-Russian summit in Budapest takes place, Trump will get what he wants – a television moment that will be another illustration of his “peacekeeping presidency.” But perhaps the big prize will be for Putin, who will be invited to EU territory for the first time since the start of the war, despite European sanctions.
“You can already see his smile,” the author of the article summarizes.
Context
In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin due to the deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation.
Due to an arrest warrant from the ICC, the illegitimate Russian president has already canceled his trip to the BRICS summit in 2023, which was held in the Republic of South Africa. However, this did not stop Putin from visiting Mongolia in 2024, despite the fact that the country is also a member of the ICC. The country explained the violations of the Rome Statute by energy dependence on Russia and the policy of neutrality.
On July 6, 2025, Forbes wrote that Putin wanted to join a summit in Rio de Janeiro with the leaders of the emerging BRICS countries, but there was a risk that he would be arrested and extradited to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes.
On October 8, Putin arrived on a visit to the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, where he was personally greeted by the country's President Emomali Rahmon. There he was supposed to be arrested at the request of the ICC, but was greeted with a carpet of flowers.
On October 17, the German Foreign Ministry said that Hungary must comply with the ICC statute and arrest Putin when he arrives in Budapest for a meeting with Trump, although Hungary has launched the process of withdrawing from the ICC.
