Trump has just given an unpleasant shock in Putin

With criticism of Putin’s management and alerts about the Russian economy, Trump begins his mandate projecting strength and sees weakness at Kremlin

Less than a month after the beginning of 2025, the “year of the serpent” is already fulfilling its dark reputation.

For the Russians, the serpent is a turnaround symbol in the Chinese zodiac: the 1905 and 1917 revolutions, the 1941 Nazi invasion, Stalin’s death in 1953 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 occurred under their influence. Now some fear that the story is preparing to attack again.

Why? Donald Trump’s abrupt change of attitude towards war in Ukraine.

In these pages, on Christmas Day – another sinister date for Kremlin, as it was the day in 1991 when the flag with the sickle and the hammer was lowered from his walls for the last time – I argued that the new president’s view of Europe’s most bloody conflict since World War II would depend on his perception of Moscow’s force three years after the beginning of a war that should last three days.

Most of the pro-kyiv allies I talked to were deeply pessimistic. They cited Trump’s criticism of President Zelensky, calling him “salesman,” his statement of having a “good relationship” with Vladimir Putin, his vocal frustration with NATO’s flaws and his philosophy of power: money above morality.

They thought Trump would see Moscow as the great bear: strong, untouchable and eternal. Although most Ukrainians preferred the uncertainty of Tempemental Trump to President Biden’s slow and cautious predictability – “anything less that slow death,” said one – they were still anxious.

However, two weeks ago, with Trump’s inauguration approaching, the weather changed. Sources close to the White House transition team told me about a growing urgency in projecting strength, fearing a repetition of Afghanistan’s chaotic removal by Biden Administration and the damage it caused to American prestige.

Now, with the beginning of Trump’s term, Kremlin begins to feel the poison. Trump is not a man who is on the side of the losers and crucially he sees Moscow as failed and defeatable.

On his first day in office, despite suspending all foreign aid programs, including those from Ukraine, for a 90 -day review, Trump went straight. “We have numbers that nearly one million Russian soldiers were killed,” he said. “They have more soldiers to lose, but this is not a way to run a country… I think [Putin] It is destroying Russia. I think Russia will have big problems: look at their economy, look at inflation. ”

He’s right. The scale of the Russian economy is inclined to the disaster. Controlling only 20% of Ukraine, with perhaps up to one million casualties, defeats at sea and air, dependence on North Korea and scarce territorial gains, Russia is losing resources. Kharkiv’s tampon zone remains a distant dream, missile attacks have not been able to break Ukraine resistance, and the cost of war weighs: 6% of the entire federal budget goes to take care of the injured and compensate for families from the dead.

Inflation is 9%, interest rates reach 23%, and prices of basic items such as bread and butter are rising rapidly. The past tells us that when the Russian economy bleeds, civil discontent is often not far away.

Then, two days ago, came the clearest sign of Trump so far, published – in his inimitable style – on social networks: “I don’t want to hurt Russia. I love the Russian people and always had a great relationship with President Putin… That said, I will do to Russia, whose economy is failing, and President Putin, a great favor. Ends it now and stop this ridiculous war! It will only get worse. If we do not make a ‘agreement, and then, I will have no choice but to impose high taxes, rates and sanctions on anything sold by Russia on the United States and several other participating countries. ”

The threat is clear: they now negotiate or face much more severe economic restrictions.

This is a significant change in relation to the cautious posture of the Biden Administration regarding sanctions to Russia. Fearing disturbances in the global market, Biden resisted measures that could seriously threaten Russian oil and gas profits, and even discouraging Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil fields that finance the war.

Now there are rumors that Trump could even use $ 330 billion in frozen Russian actives, threatening to deliver them to Kyiv to buy American weapons-a move that pleases Trump’s transactional instincts. Military aid can also increase, especially if it changes the narrative to frame Moscow, not Kyiv, as an obstacle to peace.

The question now, however, is whether Trump will act preventively or wait to see how his conversations with Putin unfold. A more aggressive support for Ukraine would now strengthen the West position on the negotiating table; Expect to risk giving in to the strategic initiative to an aggressor. Also, thinking that conversations with Moscow will end well is optimistic. After all, Putin never abandoned his maximalist goals, seeking to bring Ukraine to his orbit and humiliate the West.

Serpents teach us that calculated movements are more powerful than reactionary attacks. 2025 may be the year the US stops stepping on eggs and act with the accuracy and determination that this moment requires. It may be the year when the serpent bites fatally. This is what Moscow fears, and only Trump can deliver. We must all hope that he will do it.

With information from Telegraph*