As from July this year, we in Blitz have started interviewing various individuals – including politicians, scholars, analysts, journalists, rights activists and people of various walks of life in the Russian Federation and neighboring republics, we have interviewed Professor Dmitri Trenin, Research Professor, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, Academic Supervisor, Institute of World Military Economy and Strategy. During the interview, Professor Dmitri Trenin has discussed a wide range of topics, where he, said, Western elites hate Russian President Vladimir Putin because they could not bend him, undermine him, outwit him, corner him, etc. He further said, “They hate him because for all the accusations of being a despot, a dictator, a killer, and a thug he has been able to win and keep – over a quarter-century – the support of the overwhelming majority of the Russian people”.

Here is the excerpt of the exclusive interview:

Question: On July 13, 2024, Republican Party’s nominee and former US president Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt. Commenting on this incident, Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a statement said, “All American media and observers, commenting on the assassination attempt on Trump, are vying with each other to say that this is a threat to American democracy”. Several top investigative journalists and analysts in the US are saying, President Joe Biden’s remarks of putting Trump in bullseye was the reason behind such incident. Meanwhile, Biden in a exclusive interview with Lester Holt has publicly admitted that his call for putting Trump in bullseye was a “mistake”, though he dismissed any link to such comment with the assassination attempt.

What is your opinion on this matter?

Professor Dmitri Trenin: Political violence is the United States is nothing new. Several U.S. presidents were assassinated, and a few others were wounded by would-be assassins. Currently, the country is as polarized as it has been since the Civil War 150 years ago. In the run-up to the 2024 election, political rhetoric of both main parties has been particularly vicious and, verbal attacks have been increasingly personal. The media are clearly biased, and the U.S. judicial system visibly slanted to favor a particular party/candidate.

Traditionally, assassination attempts in the United States have been portrayed as the work of lone gunmen. However, in the most celebrated case, that of the killing of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, there is a lingering and well-supported theory of a conspiracy within the American “Deep State” against the president. As for the Trump case, the shooter is dead, but certainly there are influential quarters in the United States for whom Trump was a mega-menace that was to be stopped by all means available. Right now it looks like Trump is losing to the new Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the polls, but the tide night turn again, and the election isn’t over.

Question: On June 27, during debate, former US President Donald Trump clearly said, Ukraine is losing the war and running short of soldiers. Under this scenario, why Joe Biden and his NATO allies are still emphasizing on sending billions of dollars to Kiev and, in your opinion, what may happen after collapse of Zelensky’s regime.

Professor Dmitri Trenin: The war in Ukraine, for Washington, was at first a failed blitzkrieg to put Russia on its knees, by means of the “sanctions from hell”. When this didn’t work, it has morphed into a war of attrition. The rationale is as follows. The combined West which the United States leads as a tightly knit bloc has resources far superior to those of Russia. Ukraine has allowed itself to be used by America as it pleases. It only needs weapons to fight Russia and money to keep the country’s economy afloat. Washington doesn’t care how many Ukrainians die in the war, and it welcomes of course any Russian losses. It also makes its allies – actually, vassals – in Europe pay for the war. The hope is again that Russia will eventually grow tired, its population will turn against the Kremlin, and a regime change will follow.

This is not going to happen. The stakes for Russia in this war are much higher than for the U.S./West, and Russia is likely to prevail. Russia’s goals have been spelled out in rather broad terms, but they have not changed. First, the regime that sought to turn Ukraine into an anti-Russia, by repressing the Russian language and culture, as well as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and waging a bloody military campaign against part of its own people in 2014-22, must go – along with its heinous ideology and its advocates and supporters.

Second, Ukraine, to continue to exist as an entity, must be neutral and demilitarized – no membership in NATO or the European Union. Third, the territorial changes based on the 2014 referendum in Crimea and the 2022 referenda in Donbass and Novorossiya (i.e., formerly eastern and southern Ukraine), must be recognized and respected.

Question: While Zelensky is forcing Ukrainians to the war field, he has been receiving hundreds of billions of dollars from the West, which definitely are not donations. Once the war ends, Western lenders will want a refund of these huge amounts from Ukraine. What is your opinion about this tremendous debt burden Ukrainians would face for decades?

Professor Dmitri Trenin: Correct. The West is anything but a philanthropist. Much Ukraine’s “black soils” – some of the world’s best – have been acquired by U.S. companies. There are some other natural resources, including rare metals. As for the debt, a lot will depend on the end state in Ukraine. If the West will be able to preserve a rump Ukrainian state is a scaled-back “anti-Russia”, it will continue to support it to some extent in exchange for continuing as a thorn in Russia’s side. If a future Ukraine, however, drops its adversarial attitude toward Russia, and is genuinely neutral and demilitarized, it will be given no respite by the West.

Question: We would like to mention here the cases of terrorist attacks on Crocus City Hall as well hydro-terror targeting Nord Stream. Do you think, through such acts, the Western countries are proving themselves as patrons of terror if not terrorist states?

Professor Dmitri Trenin: Terrorism is a tool of policymaking, even if governments are reluctant to admit it and own up to its acts. For Washington, there was a clear reason to destroy the North Stream: President Biden said as much publicly. The Americans and the Brits are also among the few in this world who not only have a motive – destroying the German-Russia relationship is a recurrent objective of the Anglo-Saxon powers, but also the required capabilities to carry out the sabotage operation. To think that a couple of amateur divers in Ukraine aboard a small boat was able to pull it off is a travesty of mind. A very thin smokescreen indeed.

The Crocus City Hall was a different kind of operation. Americans who once – well before 9/11 – had no qualms about using Osama Bin Laden against the Soviets in Afghanistan can certainly keep secret ties to the Khorasan vilayat people to turn them against Moscow civilians. In the 1990s, Western intelligence services were supporting Chechen terrorists in the North Caucasus. President Putin who then headed the FSB spoke publicly about it. So, there are no illusions in Moscow on that score.

Question: While Western nations claim to be fighting terrorism, counterterrorism experts say – international terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State are covertly or overtly serving as mercenaries of the Western intelligence establishments. What is your assessment and opinion on this matter?

Professor Dmitri Trenin: I think this is more than plausible. It doesn’t mean however, that everything these terrorists do they do for America, Britain, and others. In some cases – I have mentioned Bin Laden – clients can and do turn against their erstwhile partners. But – there is definitely a link, and there is cooperation that serves the interests of both sides.

Question: We would like to know, as Joe Biden has allowed Zelensky to hit Russian territories with advanced missiles and drones supplied by the US. What would be the consequence of such a dangerous attempt?

Professor Dmitri Trenin: Much will depend on the actual circumstances, of course. What we have on record is a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry that in case the F-16 planes provided to Kiev by NATO countries are used against Russian forces and Russian territory, Moscow may respond with strikes against those airbases where they are likely to be deployed, i.e. in NATO countries bordering Ukraine, such as Romania. Attacks on the elements of Russian strategic nuclear infrastructure may warrant nuclear strikes at NATO targets. Before going nuclear, however, Russia has a long list of targets in Ukraine and in the neighboring NATO countries that can be engaged by conventional missiles and bombs. Generally speaking, the U.S. strategy of incremental escalation leads NATO to a direct collision with Russia, complete with the use of nuclear weapons.

Question: From media reports we know, a very large volume of Western military hardware sent to Ukraine is ending up into the hands of terrorists and jihadists. By having free-access to weapons, do you think, the entire world, including nations in the Global South should feel worried about intensifying of terrorist threats?

Professor Dmitri Trenin: Yes, there is a trickle-down effect from the Western aid to Kiev. Corrupt officials are using the opportunity to sell some weapons and equipment that Ukraine receives to foreign buyers, including in the Middle East and Africa. At some point, Americans became concerned about this and sought to improve their oversight of their arms transfers to Ukraine.

Question: In your opinion, why the West is consistently trying to silence media outlets like RT, Sputnik and other Russian media outlets who do not parrot Western propaganda narratives targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia as a whole?

Professor Dmitri Trenin: The West, fighting against the challenges to its centuries-old dominance, can no longer afford to be relaxed to alternative views. It sees its near-dominance in the global information space as one of the key pillars of its hegemony. Today, Russia is the only major power that has both the capacity and the audacity to take on that dominance. So, the West seeks to portray anything and everything that Russia says as disinformation, fake news, etc. Russia as a country, not just the Kremlin, is being routinely demonized, and Vladimir Putin almost dehumanized. It is an unequal fight in material terms, but Russian media outlets are not throwing in the towel.

Question: As we know, Zelensky’s tenure as president expired on May 20, 2024, do you think he is continuing this war simply to prolong his tenure, and how Ukrainian people including soldiers can liberate themselves from the captivity of Zelensky and his neo-Nazi cohorts?

Professor Dmitri Trenin: Zelensky cannot and will not quit on his own. He is willing to play his part to the end. The problem for him is that he is an actor, albeit in a star role, but not the playwright or the director of the film that is being shot as we speak. As for the Ukrainian people, including the soldiers, they mostly believe Zelensky’s propaganda and rely on the West that is very powerful and will never abandon them. They can start healing themselves only when Zelensky’s promises and Western support disappear and some harsh reality steps in.

Question: Why the Western nations are afraid of Russian President Vladimir Putin and why they are nervous about his tremendous popularity?

Professor Dmitri Trenin: I wouldn’t say “nations”, I’d say, “elites”. They hate him because they could not bend him, undermine him, outwit him, corner him, etc. They hate him because for all the accusations of being a despot, a dictator, a killer, and a thug he has been able to win and keep – over a quarter-century – the support of the overwhelming majority of the Russian people.

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