Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said that those he called "EU warmongers" had exposed their true position by refusing to back U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for military deployment in the Middle East.
“The masks are off,” Dmitriev wrote. “U.K. and EU warmongers are showing how deeply anti-Trump they really are. They tried to hide it for a long time, but now everyone can see it.”
State-level trolling.
At the same time, Dmitriev’s comments were widely seen as effectively encouraging additional countries to join military action against Tehran — one of Moscow’s key strategic partners.
Except it may not be contradictory in terms of goals. Russia does not want the EU to be a US vassal. Not for altruistic reasons but because it’ll be easier to restore trade with an unaligned EU. At the same time Russia might (perhaps correctly) consider that NATO cannot reopen the strait given how trivial and cheap it is for Iran to keep it closed. The longer the war lasts, the longer the strait stays closed, the more everyone needs Russian fossil fuels. And at the same time any naval assets that enter the strait are likely going down, which would diminish the naval capabilities of these actors.
> “The masks are off,” Dmitriev wrote. “U.K. and EU warmongers are showing how deeply anti-Trump they really are. They tried to hide it for a long time, but now everyone can see it.”
So…what are they really saying here? This war is about being loyal to Trump? That other countries are either for this war or against Trump? Are they speaking to Trump when they say this, so he frames it this way? Since when do leaders from other countries need to show deference to Trump? Since when is he leader of Earth that requires compliance?
Probably trying to drive a wedge between Trump amd the EU, wormtongue-style, in the hopes of having Trump lift more sanctions or punishing Ukraine through some other means in retaliation.
State-level trolling.
Except it may not be contradictory in terms of goals. Russia does not want the EU to be a US vassal. Not for altruistic reasons but because it’ll be easier to restore trade with an unaligned EU. At the same time Russia might (perhaps correctly) consider that NATO cannot reopen the strait given how trivial and cheap it is for Iran to keep it closed. The longer the war lasts, the longer the strait stays closed, the more everyone needs Russian fossil fuels. And at the same time any naval assets that enter the strait are likely going down, which would diminish the naval capabilities of these actors.
> “The masks are off,” Dmitriev wrote. “U.K. and EU warmongers are showing how deeply anti-Trump they really are. They tried to hide it for a long time, but now everyone can see it.”
So…what are they really saying here? This war is about being loyal to Trump? That other countries are either for this war or against Trump? Are they speaking to Trump when they say this, so he frames it this way? Since when do leaders from other countries need to show deference to Trump? Since when is he leader of Earth that requires compliance?
Probably trying to drive a wedge between Trump amd the EU, wormtongue-style, in the hopes of having Trump lift more sanctions or punishing Ukraine through some other means in retaliation.