Putin’s scams involving Trump

A month has passed since the telephone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin that led to the US about-turn on Ukraine (and Europe) and ushered in a new era of alignment between Washington and Moscow. In the space of a month, the Russian president has taken advantage of the legitimacy conferred upon him by the White House to massacre Ukrainians, intensify the so-called hybrid war in Europe, consolidate his relationship with Tehran and deceive Trump. This last, crucial point is by no means clear in Washington, where, on the contrary, they continue to pin their hopes on Putin’s support. And yet the manoeuvre to put pressure on Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian refineries and stabilise fuel prices – particularly diesel – has met with no success: in the mid-term elections, which were Trump’s priority, alignment with Putin garnered no support (quite the contrary) and the price of diesel has shown no positive changes.

This is partly because Putin has promised quantities of diesel that he is unable to deliver, but even the small quantities that have left Russia have not reached the United States. Trump is now claiming that he signed the agreement with Putin not for America but for other countries suffering from the energy crisis; however, the cargo ships carrying the diesel continue to receive conflicting instructions, and judging by their route, one might say they are lost in the middle of the ocean. The most likely destination is Brazil, and it is reasonable to assume that it was not the country of the much-maligned Lula that Trump wanted to help (Putin, on the other hand, he did). Docking in America is, however, unlikely: the laws prohibit it, and now that the political makeup of Congress has changed, it will be far more difficult to flout them. In short, business with Putin is a shambles, but Trump stubbornly refuses to admit it.