Igor Korotchenko, a Kremlin propagandist, is calling on Russia to "trick" President Donald Trump into making decisions that will benefit Moscow and weaken the United States.
Speaking on the Russia 1 state television channel, Korotchenko, the editor-in-chief of National Defense, said that Moscow must keep in mind while trying to achieve a relationship with the Trump administration, that Russia and the United States are adversaries, and the ultimate goal in Washington, D.C., is to destroy Russia, reports Newsweek Saturday.
While what is shown on Russian state television does not always reflect the official opinion of the Kremlin, Korotchenko's comments showed wariness that the Trump administration will bring improvements to the diplomatic ties that were in place while former President Joe Biden was in office.
Korotchenko warned that anyone trying to assess the United States government needs to consider that Trump is a "predator," and even though the president doesn't play the role of "bad cop" that Biden played, he's still a concern.
He also said that Trump's comments about the United States acquiring Greenland shows his goals are expansion, and concluded that China's military does not understand the risks that the United States could carry out a strike against China over tensions about Taiwan.
Korotchenko added that the Chinese and Russia should both examine constraints against the Trump administration while pushing Washington into taking actions that will make the United States weak.
"We should have a closed channel (with China) for consultations about...how we constrain the U.S. set red flags for them or maybe push America towards decisions that will ultimately weaken it," he said.
Friday, Trump said his administration has had serious talks with Russia about the war in Ukraine, and claimed that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin may soon take "significant" action about ending the fighting.
The day before, Putin said Trump is a pragmatic leader and is focused on U.S. interests, but Trump said on Friday his administration had serious discussions with Russia about its war in Ukraine and that he and Vladimir Putin could soon take "significant" action toward ending the conflict.
The previous day, Putin praised Trump as a pragmatic leader who is focused on U.S. interests but also said there are doubts that any negotiations that involve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be legitimate.
Moscow has repeatedly insisted that Zelenskyy's presidency is not legitimate because he declared martial law because of the war. Zelenskky's actions banned presidential, parliamentary, and local elections. His five-year term in office, before the martial law order, was to expire on May 20, 2024.