Putin capitalises on Trump’s circus: the bombs on Kyiv and the gift for the mid-term elections

After meeting his favourite American correspondent, Steve Witkoff, Russian President Vladimir Putin made the purpose of this visit clear: he ordered another extremely violent bombardment of Ukrainian cities, with particular ferocity directed at the capital, and had the full video of the summit with Witkoff published. The American correspondent, with a notepad sticking out of his pocket, thanked the Kremlin leader several times, praised his great humanitarian spirit, rattled off a jumbled list of topics for discussion, thanked Putin again, listened to the Russian president’s lies with a complacent smile, said he was very confident and then, upon meeting the 74-year-old American teacher, Stephen Hubbard – who had been wrongfully detained in Russia for four years on charges of being a Ukrainian mercenary and had been released for the occasion – he managed to say to him: ‘You too should thank Putin.’

The Russian president, with his unmistakable humanitarian spirit, has sought to demonstrate who is in charge and who wants to have the final say on the war, and the message is, as always, clear. The American envoy is portrayed as submissive, whilst Ukraine is being ravaged by unstoppable missiles during yet another terrible, sleepless night. Putin intends to exploit every possible advantage arising from the Trump administration’s about-turn on Ukraine.

So he says, just like Donald Trump, that the war must end because soldiers and civilians are dying (he means only his own people, the Russians); he says, just as Trump wants, that he is offering himself as a mediator between the United States and the Iranian regime (after having provided Tehran with information on American targets and military assets for months); He states, much like Trump, that the initiative for war lies entirely with the Russians, but that in principle he agrees to resume technical talks with the Americans and Ukrainians; he also asserts, in line with Trump's position, that his shipments of diesel are helping to stabilise the market.

Everything is going smoothly and according to plan for Putin, who may now be considering how to offer the White House a token gesture after such extensive and surprising subservience. He knows, as we all do by now, that the mid-term elections are crucial for Trump: there are around ten days to go until the vote on 3 November; the polls for the Republican Party are not looking good, but there are glimmers of hope, and that is where the Russian president intends to step in. Politico reported that the Russian government has launched an online interference campaign against Republicans and Democrats who support Ukraine, repeating here too the new Trumpian refrain that rings a pleasant note in Moscow: it is the Ukrainians who have driven up the price of diesel by attacking Russian refineries; it is the Ukrainians who refuse to back down. Democrat Jim Himes, chair of the Congressional Intelligence Committee, told Politico: “It’s a carnival out there”; the Russian plan is to create “a sense of anarchy and chaos”. Some analysts suggest that Putin might even go one step further, announcing a truce with Ukraine during the mid-term elections: that way, Trump could claim he has stopped the war, that he has brought prices down by negotiating with Moscow, and all those who hear the word ‘truce’ and instantly forget that Putin’s objective is the eradication of Ukraine will be quick to say: ‘See, Trump was right after all.’