A Kremlin aide has offered a strange kind of blessing: Moscow would endorse Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, but only so long as the prize is not made to honour the arming of Ukraine. The remark lands in a familiar human pattern, where the language of peace and the logic of weapons pull against each other, and where a single missile, the Tomahawk, has become the measure of whether talk of ending a war is sincere. As winter gathers over Ukrainian towns, struck again by strikes that killed a child, the question hanging over Washington and Moscow is whether diplomacy can outpace the machin
Putin Backs Trump for Nobel Peace Prize, on One Condition: No Tomahawks for Ukraine
A Russian strike on Ukraine's energy infrastructure caused mass power outages and killed a seven-year-old boy, according to the report.
A Peace Prize for providing weapons
Mark
Why does a Nobel endorsement matter in a story about missiles?
Mimi
Because Ushakov used it to draw a line. Moscow will cheer the prize if Trump stays out of arms for Ukraine, and call it monstrous if he doesn't.
Mark
He also went after Zelensky, didn't he?
Mimi
Yes. He called it foolish that Zelensky said Ukraine could lobby for Trump to win the prize.
Luke
Worth noting that the endorsement was hypothetical. He said Russia would back it if asked, so nobody has asked.
Mark
And the Tomahawks themselves?
Mimi
Trump is considering sending them. They cost up to £3 million each and have a range of about 1,500 miles, enough to reach deep into Russia.
Luke
Considering is the key word. No decision has been reported, and the range figure is the article's, not an official confirmation of what Ukraine would get.
Mark
What did Putin say about it?
Mimi
That it would destroy the positive trends in relations with Trump, though he added the outcome doesn't depend only on him.
Luke
That's a warning, not a promise of specific action. We don't yet know what Russia would actually do.
Mimi
Meanwhile the strikes on Ukraine's power grid continue, and a seven-year-old boy was killed.
Le Pouls
- Moscow has tied its support for Trump's Nobel bid to a sharp red line: any Tomahawk sale to Ukraine would turn a peace prize into a reward for arms.
- Trump is weighing the long-range Tomahawk cruise missile as pressure on Putin, a move that could place Russian targets deep inside its territory within reach.
- Putin has warned that supplying the missiles would unravel the fragile, positive trend in relations with Washington that began after the Alaska meeting.
- Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy grid have left communities without power as cold weather arrives, and a seven-year-old boy has been killed.
- Peace talks remain uncertain, with no clear commitment from Putin to sit down with Zelensky, leaving the Tomahawk decision as the next pivot point.
A Kremlin aide has offered a strange kind of blessing: Moscow would endorse Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, but only so long as the prize is not made to honour the arming of Ukraine. The remark lands in a familiar human pattern, where the language of peace and the logic of weapons pull against each other, and where a single missile, the Tomahawk, has become the measure of whether talk of ending a war is sincere. As winter gathers over Ukrainian towns, struck again by strikes that killed a child, the question hanging over Washington and Moscow is whether diplomacy can outpace the machinery of war.
A Kremlin official was asked whether Moscow would back Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, and Yury Ushakov answered that it would, if asked. But the answer came with a condition. Trump's efforts in Gaza have been cited as grounds for the honour, and Ushakov turned the conversation toward Ukraine, where Volodymyr Zelensky had suggested lobbying for the prize. Ushakov dismissed that idea as monstrous and warned that a Peace Prize tied to arms sales would make no sense.
The quarrel sits on top of a real decision. Trump has said he is pressing Russia toward a peace agreement and believes talks could come soon. He is weighing whether to supply Ukraine with the Tomahawk, a long-range cruise missile able to reach about 1,500 miles into Russia. Putin has already answered, warning that such a move would damage the positive momentum that began with their meeting in Alaska in August.
The ground has not changed. Russia struck Ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving people without power as winter approaches, and a seven-year-old boy was killed. Whether Trump acts on the Tomahawk, and how Moscow responds, will decide whether the talk of peace survives the week.
A Kremlin official was asked a simple question this week: would Moscow support Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize? Yury Ushakov, Vladimir Putin's trusted chief foreign affairs aide, answered that at this point it would, if Russia were asked. The answer came with a condition attached, and the condition was the point.
The context is the war in Gaza, where Trump has claimed success in halting the fighting, and the question of whether that earns him the prize. Ushakov turned the discussion toward Ukraine. He called it surprising, even foolish, that Volodymyr Zelensky had remarked that Ukraine could lobby in favour of awarding Trump the Nobel. Then he laid out the line Moscow will not accept. If Trump sells Tomahawks, he said, that would mean a Peace Prize for providing weapons. He called the very idea monstrous, and added that people who think in such categories reveal a good deal about what sort of people they are.
Ushakov spoke after Trump said he was raising pressure on Russia to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine. Trump told reporters he saw hope for talks and said he thought the two sides would be coming to the table pretty soon.
The Tomahawk is at the centre of that pressure. Trump is considering supplying Ukraine with the missile as a way of pushing Putin toward negotiations. It is a long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile, used by the United States, Britain and Australia, and costs up to £3 million each. Its range is around 1,500 miles, which would put targets deep inside Russia within reach.
The diplomacy has so far produced little change on the ground. Last month Putin said he had reached understandings with Trump on ending the war when the two met in Alaska in August. He did not say whether he would take part in peace talks with Zelensky, which Trump had reportedly offered to broker.
Meanwhile, the war has continued. Today Russia carried out a large attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, causing mass power outages as the cold winter approaches. Civilians were hit, and a seven-year-old boy was killed in the strikes.
Putin has already spoken on the Tomahawk question himself. He said supplying the missiles would lead to the destruction of relations with Trump, at least the positive trends that had begun in them. He said he was telling people what he thinks, and that how things turn out depends not only on Russia and not only on him.
What to watch now is whether Trump goes ahead with the Tomahawk decision, and how Moscow responds if he does.
Citations marquantes
If Trump sells Tomahawks... that would mean a Peace Prize for providing weapons. The very idea is monstrous.— Yury Ushakov, Putin's chief foreign affairs aide
This will lead to the destruction of our relations, at least the positive trends that had begun in these relations.— Vladimir Putin, on a possible Tomahawk supply to Ukraine
Envie de l'histoire complète ?
Lire l'original sur Daily Express ↗
War & Conflict