After a period of escalating tensions with President Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a crucial phone call. The Kremlin’s acknowledgment that Russia sought the conversation underscores a key Russian objective, as vital as any military action in Ukraine: winning over Mr. Trump.
Despite relentlessly shelling Ukrainian cities and engaging in brutal ground warfare in the country’s eastern regions, Putin has dedicated considerable time to praising Mr. Trump. He has frequently hinted at the potential for lucrative Russian-American business partnerships and consistently conveyed Russia’s readiness for negotiations to end its ongoing invasion.
This strategic approach has allowed Putin to circumvent multiple ultimatums and sanctions threats from the American president, all while maintaining Russia’s war efforts without significant interruption.
For instance, in June, when some of Mr. Trump’s Republican allies were advocating for stricter sanctions against Russia, Putin personally called Trump to extend birthday wishes. Trump later described Putin’s gesture as “very nicely” done, and the proposed sanctions never materialized.
Similarly, in August, as Trump threatened a 12-day deadline for an end to the war, the Russian leader hosted Steve Witkoff, a White House envoy and close confidant of Mr. Trump. Their three-hour meeting laid the groundwork for a subsequent summit between the two presidents in Alaska.
More recently, a cease-fire in Gaza provided Putin with a convenient excuse to call and commend Mr. Trump. However, a more pressing concern for Putin was the impending visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House.
Dmitri S. Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, stated on Friday, “We proposed the phone conversation on the heels of President Trump’s successful trip to the Middle East. President Putin’s first thought, of course, was to congratulate Trump on such a success.”
This latest call, following Mr. Trump’s earlier threats to supply Ukraine with powerful Tomahawk cruise missiles “if this war doesn’t get settled,” marked Putin’s eighth phone conversation with the American leader this year. Additionally, he has engaged in five extended in-person meetings with Mr. Witkoff.
Remarkably, when considering the August summit in Alaska, Putin has spent roughly as much time in meetings and calls with Mr. Trump and his envoy, Mr. Witkoff, this year as he has with his staunchest international ally, President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus, according to official Kremlin reports.
By Friday, Putin was already preparing for another face-to-face discussion with Mr. Trump, even as he indicated that a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine remained distant. He spoke with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, discussing a potential Trump-Putin summit in Budapest.
However, the Kremlin’s statement regarding this call also mentioned that Putin informed Orban that U.S. and Russian officials would first need to “discuss the algorithm for further actions in the context of finding ways to peacefully resolve the Ukrainian crisis.”
Beyond flattery, the Kremlin has also adopted more inventive methods to appeal to Mr. Trump, including proposing specific business ventures.
In February, Putin suggested that American companies could play a role in developing aluminum production in Siberia and extracting rare earth metals in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Just recently, on Thursday, Kirill Dmitriev, a senior aide, posted on X (formerly Twitter) about the possibility of Elon Musk’s tunneling enterprise constructing a “Putin-Trump tunnel” connecting eastern Russia and Alaska.
After their call, Mr. Trump shared on social media, “We also spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over.” The precise nature of the trade discussions remained unspecified.
From the Kremlin’s viewpoint, this charm offensive has proven highly effective, even if no concrete business deals have yet been finalized, and despite Mr. Trump not yielding to Putin’s extensive demands concerning Ukraine. Crucially, this strategy appears to have successfully deterred Mr. Trump from significantly escalating American military assistance to Ukraine.
A clear indication of this emerged after Thursday’s call, when Mr. Trump openly expressed doubts about whether he would authorize the provision of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, commented, “Putin hasn’t wasted any time in learning how to massage Trump’s ego.” He forecasted that the United States would likely suspend substantial aid shipments to Ukraine while preparations for a potential Budapest summit are underway. “Even if that buys Russia a month — it’s already a good investment,” Gabuev concluded.