Russia pushes back on Trump 'paper tiger' remarks

The Kremlin on Wednesday pushed back on President Trump’s labeling of the Russian military as a “paper tiger” and said efforts to warm ties between Washington and Moscow are facing chilly headwinds. 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was responding to Trump’s criticism against the country issued on social media the day before, in which the U.S. president belittled Russia’s military as weak. 

U.S. intelligence said in 2022 it believed Russia aimed to take over Ukraine in three days with its invasion that February. But Kyiv’s defense has kept Russia at bay for three and a half years. 

Russia is not a “paper tiger,” Peskov said in an interview with RBC, according to Russian-state media TASS.

“After all, Russia is more often compared to a bear. There are no ‘paper bears,’ and Russia is a real bear,” Peskov continued.

Peskov also said efforts to repair Russia-U.S. relations are “moving much slower than we would like.” Trump held his first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin of his second term in Alaska in August as part of an effort to move toward a ceasefire in Ukraine, and deepen ties with Russia, but left that meeting with no commitment from the Russian leader.  

“Logjams in our relations formed over past decades with the past [U.S.] administrations are indeed very serious and they hinder moving forward,” Peskov said.

Trump is signaling a major turn away from Russia. On Tuesday, he issued a blistering criticism of Russia on his social media site Truth Social that followed a previous meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

“Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger,’ he posted. 

This was a major shift after nine months of Trump seemingly leaning toward Moscow and away from Zelensky. 

“I thought that would be the easiest because of my relationship with President Putin, which had always been a good one. I thought that was going to be the easiest one,” Trump said in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. 

“Everyone thought Russia would win this war in three days, but it didn’t work out that way. It was supposed to be just a quick little skirmish. It’s not making Russia look good.”

For his part, Zelensky said during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News’s “Special Report” that Trump’s change of tune regarding the war was a “surprise” to him.

Trump, while earlier demanding Ukraine cede territories to Russia in an effort to secure a ceasefire, suggested Tuesday that Kyiv could “WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” although he hedged on increasing U.S. support beyond selling weapons to the NATO alliance to be given to Ukraine. 

“With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option,” he wrote on Truth Social.

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