President Trump’s recent ultimatum to Russia—new arms for Ukraine and the threat of severe tariffs if a peace deal isn’t reached in 50 days—was met with a shrug in Moscow.
Instead of panicking, the Russian stock market actually rose, suggesting the Kremlin had braced for a much tougher response.
Russia Still Thinks It Has the Upper Hand over Ukraine
President Trump’s latest threat to slap tariffs on Russia unless it agrees to a Ukraine peace deal within 50 days made headlines worldwide.
In Washington, the former reality star-turned-president struck a hardline pose: pledging new arms shipments to Kyiv (funded by Europe) and vowing consequences for Russia’s intransigence.
Russian Stocks Rise
The Russian stock market actually rose by 2.7% on the day of Trump’s announcement.
Why? Because the Kremlin had been bracing for worse.
The feared “Monday surprise” turned out to be more bark than bite. Secondary tariffs on Russia’s trading partners won’t take effect immediately, giving Moscow time to regroup and potentially stall or negotiate.
Trump’s stance is indeed firmer than before. Upon returning to office in January, he had made ending the Ukraine war a cornerstone of his foreign policy, choosing persuasion over punishment. But Putin wasn’t playing ball.
For months, the Kremlin has adopted a “Yes, but…” approach to Trump’s overtures: Yes to ceasefires, but only if Western arms and support for Ukraine stop first. Yes to peace, but only on their terms.
Is Trump’s Patience with Putin Over?
Those terms remain unchanged. Russia continues to blame NATO for the conflict. But despite these heavy tensions, Moscow clearly still thinks it is has the upper hand both on the ground and therefore in any peace talks.
Trump’s tougher tone suggests he may be running out of patience.
Trump’s recent claims that he is “not happy” with Putin underline a shift in attitude, if not yet in action. But disillusionment isn’t one-sided. Russian media, once cautiously hopeful, is turning hostile. Tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets derided Trump this week as a man with “delusions of grandeur” and “a very big mouth.”
Will Washington Change Tact?
But was this moment inevitable? Many complain that the Trump administration has relied too heavily on incentives and flattery, allowing Putin to stall while continuing his war effort largely unabated. Now, with battlefield losses mounting and Trump’s warnings sharpening, the question remains: Will this shift in rhetoric be followed by real pressure?
For now, Moscow appears confident it can weather the storm. But Trump has put a clock on the peace process. Fifty days. Whether that ultimatum leads to a breakthrough or another stalemate will depend on whether the US president is finally willing to put teeth behind his threats, and whether the Kremlin still believes he will not.
About the Author:
Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.
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403Forbidden
July 15, 2025 at 12:52 pm
Russia isn’t afraid of Donald trump.
Most probably, Russia today has some juicy kompromat material on Donald trump, but Russia isn’t as predatory or ruthless as the west.
And so, they won’t employ that weapon.
Trump and Bondi and the FBI and the CIA and other deep branches of the deep state probably are now already aware of that fact.
So, the latest threats from trump are seen as a big bluff, or just hot air.
Or just American theatrics.
America under trump, is just as bad as America under Biden, and worse than Germany under Hitler.
Germany under Hitler greatly harmed numerous nations, especially its neighbors, but it was never able to harm those far away from its borders.
America today is 109x or even 1000x more dangerous than wartime fascist Germany.
But Russia has juicy kompromat stuff about trump. Probably some Jeffrey Epstein files and photos.
Trump is unlikely to finish his second term in office.
During his first term, he grappled with the famous stormy daniels scandal.
Now, in his second term, he could be in some real quicksand with trysts concerning under-age humans. A big massive scandal.
Swamplaw Yankee
July 16, 2025 at 2:55 am
A while back, I was invited to the home of the inventor or the tomahawk + cruise tech for a dinner. We spoke many classified concepts, the blueprints he had there the salivating object of huge ruskie spy cell networks operating out of safe, dumb Canada. The reality of the theft of the US nuclear secrets by traitors working for ruskie butcher/dictator Stalin a vivid omen of our vulnerability to idiotic traitors.
In 2025 ruskie butcher/dictator Putin seems beloved by so many in the Yankee MSM. Besothed seems to be the state that the USA MSM is in relation to the butcher/dictator of 2025.
Why should Monday be a threat to the orc muscovite elite? Name one threat? The real threat is to the well being of the WEST. MAGA POTUS Trump wants to show off his cognitive inability to negotiate, again. And a deadline, too.
The shame remains that the vassal states in the EU have zero backbone to demand a role in this “negotiation”. The potential leader states inside or out of the EU just gave up, surrendered, on instituting an immediate 5% or 6% GNP defence budget. The scam of Canada’s 3T ( Third Trudeau) remains supreme, 2% GNP for defence the very next day after MAGA + trump vanish. It works with Trump.
The one, and only prime, item to negotiate is the amount of US gold bullion that the orc muscovite pedophiles have to pre-pay as compensation and reparation to each and every victim the orc ruskie has human trafficked since 2014. $10,000,000 in gold bullion for sex abuse, $20,000,000 for added torture.
The real threat is that the whole USA + particularly MAGA POTUS Trump wants to let every orc ruskie pedophile have 11 years of free, no-cost giveaway sex abuse, torture and cultural genocide of Ukrainians. MAGA rank and file have no idea that their POTUS is a familiar buddie of child sex abusers Jeffrey Epstein.
As Yankee op-ed and MSM deflect in 2025 to meaningless missile statistics, I reflect on the prime inventor of this missile tech. He was happier that his progeny was into ballet and not missiles.
Will we Yankees see a POTUS that has a prime, exclusive focus on terminating Putin’s re-start in 2014 of 700 years of sex trade and cultural genocide of Ukrainians. Can MAGA POTUS keep his brain focussed on one goal, immediate compensation and reparation for each and every Ukrainian victim, now, first? Return of every inch of stolen Ukrainian soil second.
The guarantee: Once each and every Ukrainian victim receives full compensation, reparation and freedom, the ethnic ruskie pedophile supporters of Putin will turn on their master. -30-