It's Not Good for Putin: Why the Dictator Waited to Appeal to Trump

It's not good for Putin: why the dictator waited to appeal to Trump Alexandra Sadovaya

Before Donald Trump's inauguration, Vladimir Putin congratulated him on taking office as US President. The Kremlin dictator waited to make this statement before the inauguration.

Perhaps Putin did not want to call Trump on the phone. This opinion was voiced to Channel 24 by political scientist Igor Reiterovich.

“Putin really waited, that on the day of the inauguration he made this statement before it happened. Because he apparently did not want to call Trump. Maybe he will call again. But something tells me that he hesitated for a long time whether to call or not. And decided not to,” he suggested.

A key moment for Putin

There was information that Trump instructed his team to work on organizing a phone call. Igor Reiterovich noted that it is important who calls first. Putin had a chance to call and congratulate on the inauguration.

Putin had a great chance to “save face”, to call first and say: “I'm calling first because he became president, I'll congratulate him.” But he turned out to be even more inadequate than we thought. He got around it in the following way: “I'll make a speech in which I'll hint that we're ready to talk.” Trump will definitely remember this, which will not do Putin any good, he said.

Putin's statement was not clear. He only said that “they're ready to talk,” but he didn't put forward many conditions. The Russian dictator's words were very cautious, because he is in a difficult situation.

“It seems to me that Putin's address should be viewed in a more positive context. He still understands that there is nowhere to go, he will have to sit down at the negotiating table. The only thing he wants is to do this in a way that is formally advantageous for himself, so as not to look weak among his own population. For Putin, this is a key moment,” the political scientist emphasized.

According to him, Putin does not care what will be discussed at the first stage. He wants to show the Russians a picture of communication with the US president, that he is allegedly not isolated. Therefore, with such a statement, the so-called head of the Kremlin called on Trump to talk on the phone.