By John Helmer
@bears_with
Russian officials will ignore President Donald Trump’s tweets in order to focus on the main chance.
“We do not consider the infantile attitude of Trump as a problem,” an official source said, responding to Trump’s statement and tweets of May 26 and 27.
“We consider he is the legitimate counter party [for end-of-war negotiations]. We consider he is a more adequate person than any of the European and British leaders. He is far from the worst of the leadership in the western world, whether on the left or on the right. He is not [ex-Prime Minister Elizabeth] Truss not [Boris] Johnson. He is not [French President Emmanuel] Macron. He is a real leader and [President Vladimir Putin] has no hesitation to talk to him with trust.”
“There will be a summit meeting even if it is often now that Trump speaks the last words he hears from Macron or [Finnish President Alexander] Stubb. But this is not a problem. He has an independent mind and he conveyed his wish to end war with Russia. This is the foundation on which it is necessary to build. He is trusted on this wish he has expressed.”
The official refused to be drawn into discussing the escalation of Ukrainian drone and missile attacks, including Putin’s helicopter in Kursk, or the Russian retaliation raids on Kiev and around the country. He did not touch on Putin’s decision “to create a buffer security zone along the Russian border. Our Armed Forces are working on this now. They are also effectively suppressing enemy firing points.”
Asked whether it is now the Russian negotiating objective to secure four, five, or eight regions, the official replied: “Look, our position has changed continually about the regions. No one went into this [the Special Military Operation] for land. We can stop where we want if our main, long-term objective is reached — demilitarization of all Ukraine and de-nazification. We have specific proposals on that. Very specific. So on these terms, land can be given for a peaceful treaty with the US on Ukraine. Only with US. Not with the Europeans. And the main discussions on security with the US then start with normal diplomatic and business relations at all levels. This is the minimum expectation and it will be met.”
The official passed over Trump’s latest tweet on Tuesday evening: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”
The official responded: “We have changed our position that [Putin] will meet only on the conclusion of all the technical details. We are ready to meet at any stage of the technical Ukraine discussions. A meeting [with Trump] will happen.”
Since the Istanbul meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations on May 16, details and recriminations have been leaked in the public manoeuvring before the next round.
Pope Leo XIV met Vice President J D Vance at the Vatican on May 19; they agreed the US would try to move the Russia-Ukraine talks from Istanbul to the Vatican.
The US attempt to remove the talks from Turkey to the Vatican has been dismissed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Addressing the Papal nuncio in Moscow, he said: “I’d like to ask them to spare their efforts on working out options that are not quite realistic. Imagine the Vatican being the venue for the talks. I would say this is somewhat inelegant when two Orthodox countries would use a Catholic venue to discuss the root causes of the crisis. One of them is the destruction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church…I think it would not be very comfortable for the Vatican itself to receive delegations from two Orthodox Christian countries under these circumstances.”
Asked if the US has been demanding the replacement of Vladimir Medinsky as the head of the Russian delegation, Lavrov has answered: “As for rumours about the fact that the United States wants to change the Russian negotiator…If the United States wanted to convey something to us, they know how to do it without descending to the humiliating form of spreading a rumour. As for the head of the negotiating team of Russia, Mr. V.R. Medinsky, he is appointed — if anyone else doubts – by the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin, and not the head or representative of any other state.”
Lavrov added that for the location of the next round of negotiations, “If you ask me, I would again appeal to our Turkish friends. It’s good in Istanbul.”
As for Trump’s tweets, “changes in rhetoric come from many world leaders,” he said. “As a person who does not like obstacles to achieving noble goals, [Trump] has certain assessments, a certain rhetoric. The main thing here is to pay attention, not to the rhetoric, but to ensure that Europe stops sabotaging the movement towards a world that is supported by both the United States and Turkey, and to whom the Russian Federation is fully committed.”
“Until recently,” Lavrov added, “all of Europe shouted in one voice: ‘No ceasefire, pumping Ukraine with weapons. That’s what we have to do. And finish off Russia on the battlefield. What are they screaming now? ‘Keep up the fire immediately without preconditions.’ At the same time, French President Macron adds they will not stop supplying weapons to Ukraine during the very ceasefire demanded by Russia. Here’s all the rhetoric for you.”
The official reporting the current consensus of the General Staff, the Foreign Ministry, and the Kremlin dismisses the characterization of the Europeans as “brain-dead”. If Trump believes he must work with the Europeans, “we do not consider it a problem. We will honour any peace Trump makes and stops military supply and money to Kiev. Of course, we can deal with the Europeans severely.”
The last word refers to the new Russian identification of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as Adolf Hitler Redux.
The German election poster of Merz says “Strong Chancellor, Strong Germany”. The graffiti which have been added, along with the Hitler moustache, say “A Little Man” and “Where is the firewall?”.
Chancellor Merz in Kiev with Vladimir Zelensky on May 10, 2025.
“Europe has again found the Nazi flag,” Lavrov referring to Germany, “in order to once again go to a complete dead-end, failed adventure to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia. When we have just celebrated the 80-year anniversary of the defeat of nazism, we hear from the mouth of the current leader of Germany that Germany will regain the position of the main leading military force in Europe [this] is quite symptomatic. History probably doesn’t teach these people anything.”
The Russian assessment of Merz is that he is not as intelligent as Hitler was; that their Russian race hatred is the same.
Merz’s announcement this week on lifting the range and attack targeting of missiles Germany, France and the UK will supply to the Ukraine, Lavrov said, “once again emphasizes the level of competence of the persons who have now broken through in Europe to power. Yesterday, [Merz] said with such pathos that from now on, forever, there are no restrictions on the range of strikes. And he spoke for himself, and for France, and for Britain, and for the United States. An hour later, the Vice-Chancellor of Germany [Lars Klingbeil] said that there was no such thing and was not under way. The same was said by the representatives of the Bundeswehr. And then Merz apparently figured out that what he said had meant not a new decision, but some decision made by the previous administration in Berlin. This once again leads us to think about the fact that the decision to allow Ukraine what in fact,it will want, at least to some extent for striking targets on Russian territory, was made a long time ago. It was kept secret.”
There was flurry of last-minute messages between Trump’s staff and the Kremlin, the official source now acknowledges, when the US president was in the Middle East from May 12 to 16. “No meeting was planned for Istanbul [between Putin and Trump]. We fulfilled the condition of talking to the Ukrainians which in fact had been our demand that we talk directly. We expected the meeting to go forward. But new logistical and not well formulated ideas were introduced for the agenda. A venue change was proposed. It was not agreed. New expectations were involved. It was then calculated it would not be sensible to go for a meeting where all of the agenda was changed and the venue and host were changed.”
“The ceasefire was made the central issue. [Putin] was not going to discuss ceasefire because he already agreed to ceasefires if the meeting was for wider and bigger issues of long-term security and peace with new economic relations. It was considered normal that a ceasefire should come from the summit meeting. But not the main and central outcome. [Putin] had already offered ceasefires. Maybe the Europeans changed the mind of Trump that everything is about Ukraine and about ceasefire. No one says no to ceasefire. But there’s no way [Putin] was going to walk into a meeting with a changed agenda and a small objective.”
“And so, this way or another we will solve the Ukraine issue and we are not in any hurry.”
Listen to the discussion with Nima Alkhorshid and Ray McGovern on Wednesday – 19:30 Moscow time, 12:30 Washington, DC time — and the Gorilla Radio broadcast with Chris Cook on Wednesday at 4:30 pm British Columbia time.
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