Russia Says Donald Trump's Election Win 'Useful for Us'
Brendan Cole NewsweekMedvedev served as president between 2008 and 2012 and is now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council. Over the course of the war in Ukraine, he has pushed anti-Western rhetoric, often issuing threats to Kyiv's allies about Moscow's nuclear capability.
Around the time of Trump's victory speech early Tuesday morning, Medvedev posted on Telegram his response to the election night.
Without directly congratulating the Republican candidate, Medvedev referred to how there was a "furious bipartisan anti-Russian consensus on Capitol Hill."
"But Trump has one quality that is useful for us—as a businessman to the core, he hates spending money on … idiotic allies, stupid charity projects and voracious international organizations," he said, seemingly referring to global support for Ukraine.
Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian foreign ministry for comment.
Kremlin propagandists have championed Trump as Russia's preferred candidate, given his comments about ending the war in Ukraine and his dislike of continued American aid to Kyiv to fight Russian aggression.
However, the tone of Medvedev's comments refrained from any such triumphalism, hinting that there could still be difficulties ahead.
"The question is how much Trump will be forced to give to the war—he's stubborn, but the system is stronger," Medvedev added in the post which contained a GIF image of the Republican.
Trump's expected victory spells uncertainty for Ukraine's war effort given Kyiv's reliance on U.S. military aid and the Republican's candidate's complicated history with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Impeachment proceedings against Trump centered around a 2019 phone call in which then-President Trump was said to pressure Zelensky to investigate his political rivals by withholding military aid.
On Tuesday morning, Zelensky acknowledged the Republican's election night success, posting on X, "congratulations to Donald Trump on his impressive election victory!"
Zelensky referred to the pair's meeting in September "when we discussed in detail the Ukraine-U.S. strategic partnership, the Victory Plan, and ways to put an end to Russian aggression against Ukraine."
"I appreciate President Trump's commitment to the 'peace through strength' approach in global affairs," said Zelensky adding that this idea "can practically bring [a] just peace in Ukraine closer."
During that meeting, Trump praised his relationship with both Zelensky as well as Putin. Afterward, Trump publicly blamed Zelensky and President Joe Biden for the war without mentioning the Russian president.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was not aware of any plans for Putin to congratulate Trump. "Let's not forget that we are talking about an unfriendly country that is both directly and indirectly involved in the war against our state," he told state media.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian official who chairs his country's public chamber commission on sovereignty told Russian state news agency RIA that "panic and a search for options to please Trump and get his support are currently reigning in Zelensky's entourage."
"All this is necessary so that weapons and funds go to the post-Ukrainian space controlled by Zelensky in the same volume as before," he added.