“Donald, Stop” — But Vladimir Won’t

Trump’s social media plea is mocked in Moscow

Propaganda poster near Russia’s Foreign Ministry: "Victory is forged in fire."

Easter Blessing

"Vladimir, STOP!" wrote Donald Trump on his social media platform Truth Social, addressing Vladimir Putin. But is Putin planning to stop? The statements he and other Russian propagandists have been making in recent days and months suggest the opposite.

For example, this past Sunday, Putin attended the Easter service at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, who led the Easter service in Russia’s main cathedral, delivered a political and militaristic speech: “Easter is a day of victory. We know there is a Victory Day associated with winning a war, and Easter is a day of victory associated with triumph over the most terrible enemy—over the devil.”

Putin and Kirill

There was no mention of a possible end to the war or even a ceasefire. In fact, the patriarch’s words are difficult to interpret as a call for peace. “Let us pray and work so that a just and lasting peace may be established across the expanse of historic Rus’”—in Moscow, “historic Rus’” has always referred to the territories of present-day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. In other words, the official church line is: war with Ukraine until a victorious end. And perhaps even the annexation of Belarus.

Donald, Stop!

Meanwhile, Russian propaganda pays no attention whatsoever to news suggesting the possibility of a ceasefire. On the contrary, like Patriarch Kirill, it continues to speak of a victorious end. For example, here’s how the writer and propagandist Zakhar Prilepin responded to Trump’s message:

“Trump says he’s upset about Russia’s missile strikes on Kyiv…

Donald, how about you stop pumping weapons into Kyiv, and we’ll call it even.
Stop crying online. You’re a grown-ass man.

Maybe we’ll start posting like that too:
‘Donald, I’m not happy with your behavior in Greenland, Iran, Cuba, and China. Donald, stop.’

And post it every damn day:
‘Donald, what’s with your shirt today?’
‘Donald, you’ve got a team full of Russophobes and faggots again. Why the hell do you need that? Stop it already.’

What are you now, the world’s moral hall monitor? “He’s upset,” my ass.
Write to Elon Musk instead — at least he has a clue how to fix something in this world.”

Zakhar Prilepin

In another recent post, Prilepin writes: “The Lord God is inevitably leading Russia to frontiers it may not have wished to reach on its own. But we will have to finish what has been started. No one will bring us deliverance — not Trump, not anyone else. We’ll have to do it all ourselves. That is our only hope.”

No Way Out

Prilepin is one of the loudest voices in the camp of fervent war supporters. My contacts in Moscow say that, although people who share Prilepin’s views are very few within the Russian elite, they include the generals and officers of the Russian military—those who have daily access to Vladimir Putin and whose influence on the political situation is at its highest. According to my sources, Putin understands that he simply cannot end the war at this point, as doing so would sharply contradict the expectations of the military.

It’s no surprise, then, that about a month ago, in one of his speeches, Putin compared the current situation to World War I. While meeting with veterans of the war in Ukraine, he said the Bolsheviks should not have signed the peace treaty with Germany in 1918, as it effectively removed Russia from the list of World War I victors. The analogy is clear—Putin believes this is not the time to make peace with Ukraine, especially when time appears to be on Russia’s side.

Putin himself has not responded to Trump’s remarks in recent days, but he did comment in detail on the recent Russian missile strike on the city of Sumy, which killed 34 people, including children. He stated that it was a strike on military targets, and therefore fully justified and a lawful act of retribution for what Ukrainian forces had done in the Kursk region.

Yesterday, similar sentiments were echoed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said that Russia would continue to strike Ukrainian military targets or civilian infrastructure being used for military purposes.