{"id":21083,"date":"2025-04-26T10:00:50","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T10:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/how-trump-plays-into-putins-hands-from-ukraine-to-slashing-u-s-institutions\/"},"modified":"2025-04-26T10:00:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T10:00:50","slug":"how-trump-plays-into-putins-hands-from-ukraine-to-slashing-u-s-institutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/how-trump-plays-into-putins-hands-from-ukraine-to-slashing-u-s-institutions\/","title":{"rendered":"How Trump Plays Into Putin\u2019s Hands, From Ukraine to Slashing U.S. Institutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia drafted a shopping list of what he wanted from Washington, it would be hard to beat what he was offered in the first 100 days of President Trump\u2019s new term.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Pressure on Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia? Check.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The promise of sanctions relief? Check.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Absolution from invading Ukraine? Check.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Indeed, as Mr. Trump\u2019s envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow on Friday for more negotiations, the president\u2019s vision for peace appeared notably one-sided, letting Russia keep the regions it had taken by force in violation of international law while forbidding Ukraine from ever joining NATO.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But that is not all that Mr. Putin has gotten out of Mr. Trump\u2019s return to power. Intentionally or not, many of the president\u2019s actions on other fronts also suit Moscow\u2019s interests, including the rifts he has opened with America\u2019s traditional allies and the changes he has made to the U.S. government itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump has been tearing down American institutions that have long aggravated Moscow, such as <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/22\/us\/politics\/judge-trump-voice-of-america.html\" title=\"\">Voice of America<\/a> and the National Endowment for Democracy. He has been disarming the nation in its netherworld battle against Russia by halting cyber offensive operations and curbing programs to combat Russian disinformation, election interference, sanctions violations and war crimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He spared Russia from the tariffs that he is imposing on imports from nearly every other nation, arguing that it was already under sanctions. Yet he still applied the tariff on Ukraine, the other party he is negotiating with. And in a reversal from his first term, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/04\/23\/white-house-debating-lifting-sanctions-on-russian-energy-assets-00306486\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Politico reported that<\/a> Mr. Trump\u2019s team is reportedly discussing whether to lift sanctions on Russia\u2019s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe, a project he has repeatedly condemned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTrump has played right into Putin\u2019s hands,\u201d said Ivo Daalder, the chief executive of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a former ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to see how Trump would have acted any differently if he were a Russian asset than how he has acted in the first 100 days of his second term.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, rejected the notion that Mr. Trump\u2019s actions have been to Russia\u2019s advantage. \u201cThe president only acts in the interest of the United States,\u201d she said in an interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She added that there was no connection between Russia and the cuts to various organizations that have been orchestrated by Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, or similar efforts to pare back government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDOGE has nothing to do with the efforts by our national security team to end the war,\u201d she said. \u201cThose are not conscious decisions the president is making to appease Russia in any way. When it comes to Russia and Ukraine, he\u2019s trying to appease the world by ending the war and bringing it to a peaceful resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump has long rejected criticism that he is soft on Russia, even as he has expressed admiration for Mr. Putin. He issued a rare rebuke of Mr. Putin this week after a missile strike on Kyiv <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/24\/world\/europe\/ukraine-kyiv-russia-attack.html\" title=\"\">killed at least a dozen people<\/a>, demanding on social media, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/114392923237368367\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cVladimir, STOP!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Speaking with reporters later, Mr. Trump denied that he was pressuring just Ukraine for concessions. \u201cWe\u2019re putting a lot of pressure on Russia, and Russia knows that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked what Moscow would have to give up as part of a peace deal, Mr. Trump said only that Russia would not get to take over all of Ukraine \u2014 something it had not actually been able to do militarily in the three years since its full-scale invasion. \u201cStopping the war, stopping taking the whole country, pretty big concession,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But what has been so striking about Mr. Trump\u2019s return to office is how many of his other actions over the past three months have been seen as benefiting Russia, either directly or indirectly \u2014 so much so that Russian officials in Moscow have cheered the American president on and publicly celebrated some of his moves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After he moved to dismantle Voice of America and Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, two U.S.-funded news organizations that have transmitted independent reporting to the Soviet Union and later Russia, Margarita Simonyan, the head of the Russian state broadcaster RT, called it \u201can awesome decision by Trump.\u201d She added, \u201cWe couldn\u2019t shut them down, unfortunately, but America did so itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Those are just a couple of the U.S. government organizations that Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk have targeted to the delight of Russia. Moscow has long resented the U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Endowment for Democracy, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, all of which fund democracy promotion programs that the Kremlin considers part of a campaign of regime change, and all of which now face the ax.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u2019s new <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/22\/us\/politics\/state-department-cuts-rubio.html\" title=\"\">department restructuring plan<\/a> likewise takes aim at offices that have aggravated Russia over the years, including the democracy and human rights bureau, which would be folded into an office for foreign assistance. Mr. Rubio said the bureau had become a \u201cplatform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas\u201d against conservative foreign leaders in places like Poland, Hungary and Brazil.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe ultimate outcome is this is going to benefit Russia under Putin in the long term,\u201d said Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis. \u201cThese kinds of democracy promotion programs under multiple administrations we saw as a way to win allies and improve America\u2019s standing in the world. By pulling back, we\u2019re undermining that, and Russia is stepping in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Samuel Charap, an analyst at the RAND Corporation, said that many of the actions Mr. Trump had taken were not necessarily aimed at pleasing Moscow. \u201cI\u2019m not sure the Russians thought of those things as things that they would want to put on the table, even in a negotiation with the U.S.,\u201d he said, like dismantling Voice of America. \u201cBut they\u2019re certainly happy to see it go away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the same time, Mr. Charap said that the Ukraine peace plan offered by Mr. Trump, even though tilted in Moscow\u2019s direction, did not actually address important points that Russia insisted on including in any settlement, like barring the presence of any foreign military forces in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt doesn\u2019t touch on a bunch of issues that they\u2019ve identified as their top priorities in the negotiation about the Ukraine war,\u201d he said, \u201cand the concessions that are made, in some cases, might not have been their top priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some of the targets of the Trump administration\u2019s cuts have been resisting, and it is not clear how many of the cuts will ultimately go into effect. A federal judge this week <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/22\/us\/politics\/judge-trump-voice-of-america.html\" title=\"\">blocked Mr. Trump<\/a> from dismantling Voice of America, pending further litigation. The Trump administration appeal on Friday. The National Endowment for Democracy, aid groups and other institutions are suing as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But there is no such recourse for other government initiatives. Mr. Rubio earlier this month <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/16\/us\/politics\/trump-rubio-state-department-foreign-disinformation.html\" title=\"\">shut down an office<\/a> that tracked foreign disinformation from Russia and other adversaries, asserting that the Biden administration had tried to \u201ccensor the voices of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Just this week, the White House included in the press pool Tim Pool, a right-wing commentator who was paid $100,000 for each video that he posted to a social media site as part of what the Justice Department called a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/09\/07\/business\/media\/russia-tenet-media-tim-pool.html\" title=\"\">Russian influence operation<\/a>. Mr. Pool has said that he did not know the money came from Russia, and he has not been accused of a crime.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some of the Trump administration\u2019s positions abandon longstanding Republican orthodoxy, and even in some cases stances held by Mr. Trump\u2019s team itself. The National Endowment for Democracy was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reaganlibrary.gov\/archives\/speech\/remarks-white-house-ceremony-inaugurating-national-endowment-democracy\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">created under President Ronald Reagan<\/a>. The now-vacated position on Russian atrocities was mandated by legislation co-sponsored by Representative Michael Waltz, Republican of Florida, who is now Mr. Trump\u2019s national security adviser.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The notion that Russia would get to keep the territory it has taken as part of a balanced peace deal is broadly acknowledged as inevitable. But Mr. Trump is taking it further by offering official U.S. recognition of Russia\u2019s control of Crimea, the peninsula it seized from Ukraine in 2014 in violation of international law, an extra step of legitimacy that stunned many in Ukraine as well as its friends in Washington and Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Such a move would reverse the policy of the first Trump administration. In 2018, Mr. Trump\u2019s State Department <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/ru.usembassy.gov\/statement-by-secretary-pompeo-crimea-declaration\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">issued a Crimea Declaration<\/a> affirming its \u201crefusal to recognize the Kremlin\u2019s claims of sovereignty over territory seized by force,\u201d likening it to the U.S. refusal to recognize Soviet control of the Baltic States for five decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2022, Mr. Rubio, then a Republican senator from Florida, co-sponsored legislation barring U.S. recognition of Russian sovereignty over any captured Ukrainian territory. \u201cThe United States cannot recognize Putin\u2019s claims, or we risk establishing a dangerous precedent for other authoritarian regimes, like the Chinese Communist Party, to imitate,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.durbin.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/durbin-portman-rubio-provisions-to-ban-us-recognition-of-any-ukrainian-territory-annexed-by-russia-included-in-proposed-fy23-ndaa-substitute\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Mr. Rubio said at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By contrast, Mr. Trump made clear in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7280114\/donald-trump-2025-interview-transcript\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a new interview with Time magazine<\/a> that the United States could indeed recognize Mr. Putin\u2019s claim. In fact, he went ahead and effectively did so without even waiting for a deal to be sealed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cCrimea will stay with Russia,\u201d he said in the interview, which was released on Friday. He again blamed Ukraine for Russia\u2019s decision to invade it, saying that \u201cwhat caused the war to start was when they started talking about joining NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The net effect of Mr. Trump\u2019s tilt toward Russia and dismantlement of U.S. institutions that have irritated Moscow is to undercut America\u2019s position against a major adversary, argued David Shimer, a former Russia adviser to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Just last month, Mr. Shimer noted, the intelligence community declared that Russia remains an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/25\/us\/politics\/us-intelligence-report-russia-threat.html\" title=\"\">\u201cenduring potential threat to U.S. power, presence and global interests.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe current approach,\u201d Mr. Shimer said, \u201cfavors Russia across the board \u2014 making concession after concession on Ukraine, dismantling our key soft power tools and weakening our alliance network across Europe, which historically has helped the United States deal with Russian aggression from a position of strength.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/26\/us\/politics\/trump-putin-russia-ukraine.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia drafted a shopping list of what he wanted from Washington, it would be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[6262,114,573,605,6340,572,852,1284,113,400,109,111,606],"class_list":["post-21083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us","tag-crimea-ukraine","tag-donald-j","tag-marco","tag-putin","tag-rt-tv-network","tag-rubio","tag-russia","tag-state-department","tag-trump","tag-ukraine","tag-united-states-international-relations","tag-united-states-politics-and-government","tag-vladimir-v"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Trump Plays Into Putin\u2019s Hands, From Ukraine to Slashing U.S. Institutions - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/how-trump-plays-into-putins-hands-from-ukraine-to-slashing-u-s-institutions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Trump Plays Into Putin\u2019s Hands, From Ukraine to Slashing U.S. Institutions - World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If President Vladimir V. 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