President Trump’s Truth Social post from Jan. 22 caused quite a stir in Russia. His first questionable claim, that “Russia helped us win the Second World War,” has been called a “rewriting of history” by many in Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded more diplomatically in remarks the next day. “Let’s not forget, after all, that President Trump has already noted that there is an ocean between America and Europe. That war, the theater of that war, and the deaths of tens of millions of people took place on a different continent, not in America,” Peskov said, reported TASS. “The main burden in the fight against fascism and the biggest price for the victory in the fight against fascism was paid by our country, the Soviet Union,” he went on.
The second part of Trump’s post demanded that if Russia does not quickly “make a deal” over Ukraine, then he will impose “high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions” on Russia. This has similarly evoked a sharp response from across Russia, being labelled an “ultimatum” by many.
Peskov again responded very carefully and calmly: “We do not see any particularly new elements here,” he said. “You know that Trump, during his first term, was the U.S. president who most often resorted to sanctions…. He likes those methods, at least he liked them during his first presidential term,” Peskov told reporters.