Russian state media has deliberately omitted U.S. President Donald Trump‘s criticism of its leader from its coverage, according to an independent Russian investigative outlet.
According to the news site Agentstvo, media controlled by the Kremlin has “censored” Trump by not reporting that the U.S. president has been criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin since last week.
Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment by email.
Why It Matters
Relations between Washington and Moscow have thawed since Trump was sworn into office in January, but tensions are mounting as the U.S. leader attempts to broker peace talks to end the war. After Russia launched an attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, last week, Trump publicly urged Putin to stop his attacks and expressed his disappointment in the leader for continuing military actions.
What To Know
Last week, Trump urged Putin to “STOP!” after Russian forces launched an attack on Kyiv, killing at least 12 people.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
The Trump administration also warned it would abandon diplomatic efforts to end the war if Russia and Ukraine did not soon accept a Washington-brokered peace proposal.
However, Russian state television channels and Kremlin-controlled media—including Russia-1 and news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti—have omitted Trump’s criticism of Putin from their coverage, according to Agentstvo. They left out Trump’s calls for Putin to stop the attacks on Ukraine.
On Sunday, Vesti Nedeli, a program on Russia-1, selectively quoted Trump’s criticism of Putin on social media, citing only the portions that excluded any criticism of the Russian president. Instead, the segment highlighted Trump’s earlier remarks criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump criticized Zelensky on April 23 after Kyiv’s leader said he wouldn’t accept Russia’s demands to legally recognize the annexation of Crimea. Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula in 2014, but it remains internationally recognized as Ukrainian.
“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea,” Zelensky told reporters on April 22, adding, “It is against our constitution.”
Trump and Zelensky met one-on-one at the Vatican on Saturday ahead of Pope Francis‘ funeral.
After that meeting, reporters asked Trump whether Zelensky might be willing to give up Crimea. The U.S. president responded: “Oh, I think so, yeah. Look, Crimea was 12 years ago.”
Meanwhile, European and Ukrainian officials fear Trump is close to abandoning his efforts to put an end to the war, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people briefed on the discussions.
What People Are Saying
U.S. Vice President JD Vance told reporters in India on April 23: “We have engaged in an extraordinary amount of diplomacy and on-the-ground work. We really tried to understand things from the perspectives of both Ukrainians and Russians. I think that we put together a very fair proposal.
“It’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process. The current lines, somewhere close to them is where you’re ultimately, I think, going to draw the new lines in the conflict.”
Vance told Charlie Kirk, a co-founder of Turning Point USA, on his podcast on Monday: “If this doesn’t stop, the Ukrainians aren’t winning the war. I think there’s this weird idea among the mainstream media that if this thing goes on for just another few years, the Russians will collapse, the Ukrainians will take their territory back, and everything will go back to the way that it was before the war, that is not the reality that we live in.”
What Happens Next
Plans are in motion for a meeting between Trump and Putin, with Trump indicating they could meet “shortly” following his visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in May.
The post Russia TV Cuts Short Donald Trump’s Critique of Putin appeared first on Newsweek.
