Steve Rosenberg<\/span>Russia editor in Moscow<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n On paper, there was plenty in Donald Trump’s comments to rile the Kremlin.<\/p>\n For starters, his description of Russia as a “paper tiger” that had been “fighting aimlessly” in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Moscow won’t like that.<\/p>\n I remember when President Barack Obama described Russia as a “regional power”, as opposed to a global one: that was taken as a big insult here.<\/p>\n President Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine could win back all the territory Russia had seized will have raised eyebrows, too, in Moscow.<\/p>\n And Russian eyebrows will have shot up even higher after Trump’s reply to a reporter’s question.<\/p>\n “Do you think that Nato countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their air space?” the reporter asked.<\/p>\n “Yes, I do,” replied Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yet the Kremlin’s initial response to all of this has been rather restrained.<\/p>\n Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov gently brushed aside the “paper tiger” insult.<\/p>\n “Russia’s in no way a tiger,” Mr Peskov to a Russian radio station. “It’s more associated with a bear. And there is no such thing as a paper bear.”<\/p>\n What of the suggestion that Kyiv could retake lost territory?<\/p>\n “The assertion that Ukraine can win back something by fighting is mistaken,” the spokesman told reporters later.<\/p>\n On a Kremlin conference call for journalists, I ask Dmitry Peskov for his reaction to Trump’s comments.<\/p>\n “Russia, in general, and President Putin in particular value highly President Trump’s political will to continue working towards a peace settlement,” Peskov replies.<\/p>\n Very diplomatic.<\/p>\n Then again, we’ve seen this before. <\/p>\n So often when Trump posts or voices unexpected criticism of Russia and\/or of Putin, the Kremlin takes a deep breath and responds with something a little calmer, more restrained than we might expect.<\/p>\n But why?<\/p>\n Today’s edition of the Izvestiya newspaper suggests the first reason.<\/p>\n “It’s important to remember that Trump is influenced by the last person he has spoken to,” wrote Izvestiya. “In this case it was Zelensky.”<\/p>\n In other words, Moscow believes that Donald Trump’s views on Ukraine are not set in stone and that he can be persuaded to come round to Russia’s view.<\/p>\n “We will have the opportunity to convey our position to the American side,” Peskov tells me. “Our foreign minister Sergei Lavrov can do this. He’s meeting his counterpart [US Secretary of State Marco Rubio] in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There may be another reason why Russia doesn’t feel the need to shout back.<\/p>\n President Trump’s comments, as critical as they were of Russia, contained no threat of additional sanctions; no ultimatum to Moscow; no deadline to make peace, or face the consequences.<\/p>\n The Kremlin will have noted that.<\/p>\n What’s more, when asked by a reporter whether he still trusted Vladimir Putin, Trump replied:<\/p>\n “I’ll let you know in about a month from now.”<\/p>\n A month is a long time in war and politics. I doubt the Kremlin will be quaking in its clogs over such an answer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But what about the threat to shoot down Russian aircraft?<\/p>\n The Kremlin’s response: denial.<\/p>\n “We hear the hysteria about our military pilots allegedly violating rules and somebody’s air space,” Peskov tells me. “But all these claims are groundless and without proof.”<\/p>\n Trump also painted a picture of a Russian economy in dire trouble.<\/p>\n The Kremlin denied that, too.<\/p>\n But what is the state of Russia’s economy?<\/p>\n It’s not collapsing. But it is creaking. Perhaps that’s not surprising after more than three years of international sanctions and massive state spending on the war.<\/p>\n Russia’s budget deficit has been growing, revenues from oil and gas falling. Many branches of industry have been struggling.<\/p>\n The recent spate of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries has affected domestic fuel supply. Even in what is a highly controlled media landscape, Russian newspapers have been reporting petrol shortages in some parts of the country.<\/p>\n “Russia is on the verge of a full-scale fuel crisis” declared tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets last month.<\/p>\n There’s no sign, though, that economic pressures are influencing the Kremlin’s calculations on the battlefield.<\/p>\n Russia’s finance ministry on Wednesday proposed raising the rate of value-added tax (VAT) from 20% to 22% from next year to help balance the state budget.<\/p>\n In a statement the ministry said the increase would be aimed primarily at financing defence and security.<\/p>\n For now, Vladimir Putin seems determined to push on with the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n No matter what Donald Trump may say about that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Chip](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/bdda\/live\/6abe6e60-994a-11f0-b42e-f379dfea869d.jpg.webp\")
Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/bbcdotcom\/web\/20250905-110137-f27f908f49-web-2.29.1-3\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"GAVRIIL](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/52ff\/live\/45308510-994b-11f0-9a00-eba1f5856efc.jpg.webp\")
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV\/POOL\/AFP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n