It's a good decision, says Kremlin's spokesman, following the U.S. pausing of all aid to Ukraine.
"The details remain to be seen, but if this is true, it is a decision that could indeed push the 'Kyiv regime' towards a peace process," said Dmitry Peskov. Russia has been open about what it would require to begin peace talks: Ukraine's Crimea and four Ukrainian oblasts — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson — none of which Moscow controls in full.
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a suspension of all military aid to Ukraine overnight on March 4. The directive reportedly went into effect immediately, impacting over $1 billion in weapons and ammunition deliveries.
"Major!" wrote Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of Russia's state-run Direct Investment Fund, who became a vital link between the Kremlin and the White House. Dmitriev was one of the three top Russian officials taking part in the Feb. 18 U.S.-Russia negotiations in Riyadh.
The move to suspend aid to Ukraine came on top of other Kremlin-friendly steps recently taken by the U.S. The Trump administration has also been considering lifting sanctions imposed against Russia for its brutal all-out war against Ukraine that killed hundreds of thousands.
Meanwhile, Trump has also been aggressively attacking Ukraine and its leadership, which Russian officials and propagandists cheered. They backed Trump after he and Vice President J.D. Vance berated Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Peskov said the U.S. policy now "largely aligns" with Russia's interests.
'Firewall is abolished'
Since President Trump began speaking favorably of Russia, often parroting Kremlin talking points, Russian officials and propaganda have drastically changed their rhetoric.
If earlier a common theme on Russian television was an open threat to use nuclear weapons against the U.S., now state-run media outlets are talking more and more positively about the U.S. while continuing to issue xenophobic statements against Ukraine.
"Firewall between the U.S. and Russia is abolished. New America starts to reestablish relations with Russia. The new concert of two great powers with very similar anti-globalist illiberal ideologies is quite possible, but not certain," ultranationalist Alexander Dugin, a fervent supporter of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, wrote prior to Zelensky's meeting with Trump on Feb. 28.
Russian officials and propaganda praised the U.S. vote against a Ukrainian resolution at the U.N. General Assembly, calling Russia an aggressor state. They also spoke in favor of Trump's controversial appointments and continued to spread false claims about Zelensky's legitimacy, which were picked up by Washington.
In most of his recent posts, Russian propaganda mouthpiece Vladimir Solovyov has called Zelensky a "former Ukrainian president, recognized as an illegitimate head of state."
"We were waiting for Trump not because he is pro-Russian but because he is pro-American," Solovyov said.
Peskov welcomed the U.S. policy shift, saying on Feb. 26 that it was "impossible to (even) imagine" and that restoring relations would take a "long way to go."
Trump backers
The shift in Russian reaction became evident following Trump and Zelensky's altercation at the White House. Following the scuffle, Russian officials and propagandists jumped to Trump's defense. Their defense was paired with attacks against Zelensky and Europe.
Solovyov said that Zelensky was "chastised for rudeness" and "disgraced himself." Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised Trump for telling "the truth," calling the argument "a livid reprimand" delivered to an "ungrateful" Zelensky.
He reiterated Trump's claim that Ukraine "is gambling with World War III" and said that military aid to Kyiv should be stopped. It stopped three days later.
Medvedev, currently a deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, has made numerous inflammatory statements on social media platforms and has openly challenged Ukraine's right to exist as an independent nation.
Overall, Trump is enjoying a wave of support in Russia, which sees the U.S. president as a tool that would help force Ukraine into a peace deal beneficial to the Kremlin.
"Whoever in the U.S. attacks Putin and Russia today attacks Donald Trump," wrote Dugin.
