Kathrine Frich
The outburst came after Trump paused tough new penalties passed by the US Congress.
Flattery and handshakes often take center stage when rival powers try to strike a deal.
Behind closed doors, however, decades of deep-seated distrust rarely vanish overnight.
Even when one side offers an olive branch, the other might already be sharpening the axe.
A nose for business
Despite US President Donald Trump pushing for a Ukraine peace deal, top Kremlin official Dmitry Medvedev says Moscow and Washington are locked in a permanent feud.
According to the Daily Express, the 61-year-old former Russian president took to the social network VK to mock Trump and dismiss hopes of a lasting thaw.
“Let’s be frank – he’s not much of a strategist. But he has a good nose for business,” Medvedev wrote, as quoted by the British outlet.
In his online tirade, the deputy chairman of Vladimir Putin’s Security Council suggested Trump has a personal financial motive for courting Moscow. “Both the diesel deal with Russia and a number of other moves could bring him quite substantial dividends,” Medvedev claimed in the post cited by the Daily Express.
Poisoned for decades
That outburst came even after Trump paused tough new penalties passed by the US Congress so peace talks would not collapse. According to the Daily Express, the paused Graham Act threatens up to 500 percent tariffs on countries that buy Russian uranium, gas, or oil.
Still, suspending the rules did not calm Moscow down. As reported by the outlet, Medvedev claimed the package “could even be classified as an act of genocide” and insisted it was “designed to last for decades” with help from “European degenerates”.
Comparing the penalties to Cold War trade rules that stayed on the books for nearly 40 years, Medvedev predicted Washington would use the law to blackmail Russia for generations. “It is quite likely that our grandchildren will live under its provisions,” he wrote, according to the Daily Express.
Bitter enemies forever
For the Kremlin hardliner, the takeaway is crystal clear. “We must acknowledge that relations between Russia and the US have once again been damaged for decades to come,” Medvedev stated in the report, adding: “We were, are, and will remain systemic adversaries.”
He also brushed off Trump’s decision to hold back the penalties, writing, “And secondly: to hell with this law and the Americans’ leniency.”
According to the Daily Express, his fiery remarks landed just days before US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner fly to Moscow following talks with Ukrainian and European officials in Norway.
