The U.S. has long been a target of Russia’s ire. Under Trump, the tone has changed

After U.S. President Donald Trump delivered his marathon speech to Congress Tuesday night, media outlets around the world pored over the messages, facts and falsehoods.

In Russia, state media outlet RIA Novosti tracked how many times Trump referred to Vladimir Putin, comparing the speech to when U.S. President Joe Biden delivered his last State of the Union address in March 2024. 

The outlet pointed out that Biden mentioned the Russian president seven times, speaking about the need to “stop Putin” and “stand up to Putin.”

Trump, on the other hand, mentioned Putin just once, saying he probably recognized he had a “chance” to invade Ukraine, after seeing what he called the “incompetence” of the Biden administration during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. 

It was a simple comparison meant to drive home a point: the Trump administration appears much more favourable for Moscow — even if the Kremlin appears careful to openly and publicly embrace the U.S. government. 

“I am cautiously optimistic,” said Malek Dudakov, a Moscow-based political scientist and regular commentator on Russian state media programs. “But no one here has any illusions that we are going to bury the hatchet tomorrow and will become the closest friends of the United States.”

Blunt change of tone 

Even cautious optimism is a dramatic shift in tone toward Washington, given that Russian political officials and television commentators have been blasting the U.S. government for years, labelling the country an enemy and even threatening to launch nuclear attacks against America and its assets. 

Trump’s efforts to disrupt U.S. foreign policy, and dismantle the Biden administration’s staunch, unflinching support for Ukraine by trying to pressure the country into negotiating a peace deal to end Russia’s invasion, has earned praise from the Kremlin and members of the country’s political class. 

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he agreed with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio when, during an interview with Fox News, Rubio called the Ukraine war a proxy fight between nuclear powers, with the United States helping Kyiv.

The warming relations extend beyond the posturing around Ukraine. Trump has said repeatedly he has a good relationship with Putin, and his administration’s attacks against so-called “wokeness” have garnered support in Russia, which claims to extol traditional values and whose courts have handed out convictions for LGBT “extremism.”

Still, despite the areas of alignment, there remains a wariness in Russia given Trump’s unpredictability and his actions during his first term as president. Russian commentators frequently point to 2019, when the U.S. approved the sale of javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, and when Trump signed onto additional sanctions against Russia when pressured by U.S. Congress.

“I don’t think Trump is trying to become a pro-Russian president or trying to build an alliance,” said Dudakov, speaking to CBC News by phone from Moscow. “I think Trump simply would not like to conflict with Russia, because … the issue of Ukraine is not a priority for him.”

Dudakov is a frequent guest on Russian political shows, which have warmly approved of the recent fractious developments between Washington and Kyiv, as well as other U.S. efforts to shake up alliances and global order.

Shifting U.S. policy on Ukraine

On the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the U.S. split with its European allies at the United Nations, refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in three separate votes, including one where the 15-member UN Security Council passed a U.S.-drafted resolution that took a neutral position on the conflict.

The Kremlin welcomed the U.S. stance, saying it was “impossible to imagine” that Washington’s foreign policy would “largely coincide” with Russia’s vision.

In the days that followed, there was more approval from Russian officials after the explosive Oval Office meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the subsequent U.S. decision to halt military aid and the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine.

“They praised Trump and Vance for challenging Europe … and humiliating Zelenskyy,” said Maxim Alyukov, a political sociologist and associate researcher at King’s College London and a fellow at the University of Manchester. “But at the same time, there is a lot of ambiguity.”

Alyukov pointed to an independent Russian news outlet Verstka, which published a report last week quoting unnamed sources in state media who said they had not yet received strict instructions on how to handle the sharp warming of relations; editors were told not to personally praise Trump in case the negotiations failed. 

That report seems to be consistent with the statements being made by official sources and commentators who openly question and debate Trump’s motivation during those programs, Alyukov said.

Anger aimed at Europe

As for the warnings, threats and profanity that were previously directed at the U.S. on Russian state media and social platforms, the choice words are now being specifically aimed at Europe.

European Union leaders have vowed to step up its defence spending — by as much as 800 billion euros — in order to better protect the region and support Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have been some of the most vocal supporters and have publicly supported the idea of deploying European peacekeepers to the country if there is a negotiated ceasefire.

“You hear all kinds of swearing directed at Macron and Starmer,” said Alyukov, referring to the commentary on Russian state political programs.

After Macron delivered a televised address on Wednesday, saying that Europe needs to recognize the threat Russia poses, and proposing the extension of French nuclear protection to the rest of Europe, reaction from Moscow was swift and uniform. 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called Macron “detached from reality,” while Putin remarked Thursday that there are some “who want to go back to the times of Napoleon, forgetting how it ended.” (In 1812, Napoleon marched the French army into Moscow, before retreating a month later.) 

Putin, however, has said very little about Trump. 

In a speech to Russia’s Interior Ministry Wednesday, Putin didn’t mention the U.S. president once. Instead, he praised the department for its work in handing out Russian passports to residents of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia — seized Ukrainian territories that Russia wants to permanently control.

Aligned values, but unclear peace plans

Yevgeny Popov, host of the popular daily Russian political program 60 Minutes and an MP in the State Duma, told CBC News he disputes the idea that Russia will benefit from the growing split between Europe and the U.S. — but he believes Trump will be a better president than Biden.

“We have some similar positions between [the] Russian people and U.S. people,” he said. “We are conservative nations.”

When asked if he considers Trump to be a pro-Russian president, Popov scoffed. “U.S. military equipment is still on the battlefield, and U.S. tanks and missiles are still fighting against my people.”

He said while he welcomes Trump’s statements about quickly negotiating a peace deal, he is skeptical, too, as no concrete plan has been revealed yet. 

On social media platforms, some of Russia’s pro-war military bloggers are critical of the prospects of negotiating, and instead want the country’s military to win the war outright. 

Trump has repeatedly said that Russia has been sending strong signals that it is ready for peace. The Kremlin, too, has said Putin is serious about negotiating a deal in Ukraine.

But there is no suggestion that Russia is willing to forgo its key demands: keeping the Ukrainian territory it now controls and having Ukraine abandon its NATO ambitions — both of which Zelenskyy has repeatedly said are non-negotiables. 

“We are ready to negotiate on specific issues, for example … [the] lifting of sanctions,” said Dudakov, noting that on others, “Russia is not ready to compromise.”