Three worries and a stroke of luck How Trump is helping Kremlin boss Putin out of a jam
With what request did the Kremlin leader light this candle on Orthodox Christmas? (Archive picture)
Image: dpa
Reception for new ambassadors in Moscow without words on the big issues of world politics. (archive picture)
Image: dpa
Putin has fought popular movements like the one in Iran on the territory of the former Soviet Union. (archive picture)
Image: dpa
With what request did the Kremlin leader light this candle on Orthodox Christmas? (Archive picture)
Image: dpa
Reception for new ambassadors in Moscow without words on the big issues of world politics. (archive picture)
Image: dpa
Putin has fought popular movements like the one in Iran on the territory of the former Soviet Union. (archive picture)
Image: dpa
For President Putin, Russia is a great power that has something to say all over the world. But the turbulent start to the year has shown him his limits.
18.01.2026, 21:15
dpa
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- Russia's international weakness is reflected in three crises: the loss of control over Venezuela, the protests in Iran and the setbacks in the Ukraine war.
- Putin reacts to global political developments in a conspicuously taciturn manner and avoids making statements.
- The conflict over Greenland divides the West, which Moscow sees as a distraction from the war in Ukraine and an opportunity to strengthen its own position in the Arctic.
The start of the year in foreign policy for Russian President Vladimir Putin: he receives new foreign ambassadors in the magnificent Alexander Hall of the Kremlin. An important foreign policy speech has been announced. But then? Not a word about Venezuela, the protests in Iran, US President Donald Trump - the topics that have kept the rest of the world on tenterhooks since the New Year.
Putin speaks in general terms about international law - which he is breaking with his war against Ukraine - and finds unkind words for the neighboring European states. Nothing more. The events since the New Year have probably made the Kremlin leader realize that Russia is less assertive internationally than he would like. Moscow has yet to find answers to these weaknesses. An overview of Putin's problems:
Venezuela, a case of concern: the kidnapped protégé
Russia has long been allied with the oil-rich state in the north of Latin America, even agreeing a strategic partnership last year. And then Trump's military arrests President Nicolás Maduro in a coup and brings him to the USA. The air defense system supplied by Russia is switched off. The bodyguards from ally Cuba - dead.
Moscow can only look on. It still has to endure the mockery that Putin probably imagined the start of the invasion of Ukraine and the arrest of Kiev President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to be just as glorious.
Venezuela was Russia's attempt to gain a foothold in the USA's backyard, said expert Alexander Gabuev from the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. However, Putin had already been unable to prevent the fall of Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad last year. "This is not a good advertisement for Russia as the patron saint of authoritarian regimes."
Worry case Iran: colorful revolution in Tehran
Nationwide protests are flaring up in Iran against the authoritarian rule of the Ayatollahs - a popular uprising of the kind Putin has always feared as a "colorful revolution" in Ukraine, Georgia or the Arab Spring. As in these cases, the Kremlin also sees alleged instigators from abroad in Iran.
Losing the Iranian leadership as a partner would be difficult for Moscow to swallow - not only because of their shared antagonism towards the West, but also because Tehran is supplying weapons for the war in Ukraine. Direct intervention is a red line for Moscow, analyzed Nicole Grajewski in the US magazine "Foreign Policy". But Moscow is doing what it always does when an authoritarian government begins to falter: it has supplied Tehran with military equipment to crush the uprising and shut down the internet.
The Ukraine case of concern: the hijacked tankers
In Putin's war against Ukraine, which will soon enter its fifth year, the alarm signs for Moscow are also increasing. The Russian advance in the east is continuing, but with heavy losses and falling short of the targets set. The mobilization of soldiers is becoming more difficult, the state coffers are emptying. Putin is bombing the Ukrainian cities into frosty darkness, but the resistance of the Ukrainians is not waning.
And Trump, on whom Putin has counted as a partner, has tankers of dubious origin seized at sea. For the gentleman in the White House, this is related to Venezuela, but it is about the same shadow fleet that is shipping Russia's oil to finance the war in Ukraine. Some tankers have taken refuge under the Russian flag, but that offers no protection: the US marines are rappelling onto their deck anyway.
In addition, the USA, Kiev and the European states have developed an idea of what a post-war order for Ukraine could look like in many rounds of negotiations since November. "Russia sees itself as isolated and insecure: the proposals fundamentally contradict its war aims, but Moscow is reluctant to alienate Donald Trump," wrote expert Tatiana Stanovaya from the Carnegie think tank.
The Greenland bonanza: Europe and the US at odds
Nevertheless, it is Trump who is helping Putin out of a jam. His ultimate claim to Greenland - autonomous, but part of Denmark - is startling the Europeans. Instead of security guarantees for Kiev, it is suddenly about a conflict within NATO; instead of thousands of British or French soldiers in Ukraine, it is about small advance detachments on the world's largest island. By threatening to impose tariffs on the Europeans, Trump has once again increased the pressure.
"Some Russians hope that the US claims will further divide transatlantic relations," wrote Russia expert Hanna Notte on X. Moscow views the Greenland conflict with schadenfreude and senses a favorable opportunity in the matter of Ukraine. The other players are distracted. Foreign policy expert Grigory Karasin from the Federation Council in Moscow hoped that "the paranoid political-military support of the "coalition of the willing" for Volodymyr Zelensky will fade into the background".
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas warned that "we must not allow ourselves to be distracted from our main task of ending Russia's war in Ukraine". Putin's silence on the international situation is worrying, wrote columnist Marc Champion for the business news agency Bloomberg. It can be interpreted as an agreement with Trump that everyone has their sphere of influence - and Putin has Europe and Ukraine.
But Trump's insistence also brings dangers for Russia. Whether European or American soldiers - Nato is becoming more present on Greenland. Moscow also wants to make economic and military use of the increasingly ice-free polar region. "Any attempts to ignore Russia's interests in the polar region, especially in the area of security, will not go unanswered," warned Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
