Kremlin Tells Russia Media To Play Down Trump Lest He Upstage Putin – OpEd
By Paul Goble
After US President Donald Trump telephoned Vladimir Putin on Feb. 12, the Russian Presidential Administration instructed state-run and pro-government media to “downplay Trump’s role and mention the US president less often – lest it appear as though Trump is achieving the results Putin failed to deliver,” according to the Meduza news agency.
The independent Russian news portal based in Riga says that the Kremlin is “concerned that Russians might start seeing Trump as a more pro-active and decisive leader than Putin.” And “t prevent this, officials directed journalists to emphasize that the outcome of any talks depends entirely on Putin” (meduza.io/feature/2025/02/14/sozvon-putina-i-trampa-kazhetsya-otlichnym-informatsionnym-povodom-dlya-prokremlevskih-smi).
“A political strategist working with the domestic policy team told Meduza that the Kremlin doesn’t want Trump to be perceived as ‘a strong leader capable of changing the situation.’” That could create a situation in which Putin might “appear passive – in other words, weak – in comparison.”
The news outlet’s source said that Moscow had “also instructed Russian media outlets to scale back the numbers mentioning Trump, not only with regard to foreign policy but also concerning US domestic policies.” Meduza said that it already sees that some of the Russian government outlets have already adjusted their coverage of the US president.
