Putin views Trump as an opportunity to "reset" relations with the U.S. according to the Kremlin's strategy, as reported by ISW.

Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) report that Russian leader Vladimir Putin intends to leverage Donald Trump's presidency. The Russian ruler aims to renew Russian-American relations. In this context, Putin intends to dictate the terms of this process to ensure it benefits Russia.

As reported by ISW, on November 7, Putin spoke at the annual meeting of the Valdai Club, expressing a desire to reset relations with Washington. He hinted that Trump's campaign indicates a "willingness to restore ties with Russia and facilitate the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis," and emphasized Russia's openness to "renewing relations with the U.S."

Putin also accused the U.S. of exacerbating bilateral relations, citing sanctions and support for Kyiv, yet he did not mention that these actions were a response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

"Putin is attempting to influence the foreign policy of newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump and achieve another reset of Russian-American relations on Russian terms," analysts from ISW report.

ISW experts stress that from Putin's rhetoric, it is clear that Russia is only interested in improving relations if the U.S. lifts sanctions and halts aid to Ukraine, effectively conditioning the "reset" on concessions from Washington in favor of the Kremlin.

Putin speaks more frequently about ending the war, but on his terms

Press secretary of Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, commented on Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. elections. According to him, the Kremlin chief does not plan to congratulate Trump yet. At the same time, he stated that ending the war in Ukraine “cannot be done overnight” – this was his response to the Republican's promises to end all wars.

Russia allegedly seeks to resolve the conflict against Ukraine and is supposedly ready to seek and make reasonable compromises. However, no exchange formats or negotiations with Kyiv are currently taking place. Moscow dictates that the outcome of any negotiations must be favorable to Russia.

The Russian ruler stated at the BRICS summit that he allegedly received a secret proposal for negotiations between the countries from Ukraine. Supposedly, this proposal was conveyed to the Russians by representatives of Turkey. The Kremlin leader claimed that he immediately accepted it, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the peace proposal the very next day. Meanwhile, Putin added that Zelensky's victory plan allegedly undermines all paths leading to peace.