Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to influence the foreign policy of the newly elected US President Donald Trump, aiming for another adjustment of relations between Russia and the US in favor of Russian interests, quoted by News.bg.
On November 7, Putin addressed the 21st annual meeting of the "Valdai" discussion club, where he expressed a desire to “recharge“ of Russian-American relations.
This is noted in the daily analysis of the war in Ukraine by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Putin hinted that the Trump campaign expressed a desire to improve relations with Russia and help resolve the Ukrainian crisis peacefully. He noted that Russia is open to “the possibility of restoring relations with the United States”.
Putin also blamed the US for the deterioration of bilateral relations, pointing to sanctions and support for Kiev, but avoided mentioning that these measures were in response to Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Putin's position suggests that Russia would accept a restoration of relations only on the condition that the US abandons sanctions and stops supporting Ukraine – that is, entirely on terms that are beneficial to Russia at the expense of American interests.
Putin repeated the familiar narrative that NATO is an “obvious anachronism”, accused the West of a “bloc-oriented mentality” and deliberately presented the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a reaction to NATO's efforts to maintain its influence.
He also tried to present BRICS as a non-aligned alternative to NATO, wrongly implying that Russia has no interest in dominating, even as the Kremlin creates a new anti-Western bloc with Iran, North Korea and China.
Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory and Western sanctions are already seriously affecting the Russian energy industry.
On November 6, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine announced that in October 2024 Russian authorities have partially halted work at oil refineries in Volgograd, Ilsky (Krasnodar Krai) and Yaisky (Kemerovo Region) due to unfinished repairs following damage from Ukrainian strikes.
The Ukrainian service noted that the shutdown would reduce the capacity of Russian refineries, hamper exports, worsen fuel supplies and increase maintenance and modernization costs.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russian authorities are unable to complete the repairs due to a lack of Western equipment and components due to the sanctions, as well as failed attempts at import substitution.
The service reports that Russian manufacturers supply only 30-45% of the required components for Russian oil refineries, and dependence on Chinese equipment leads to compatibility problems, which increases repair costs.
ISW has previously noted the effectiveness of Western sanctions and the need to strengthen them to prevent Russian circumvention through third countries, as well as the effectiveness of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.