Dieser Krieg verlief nicht nach Putins Willen

Serge Schmemann, a former Moscow bureau chief of The Times, writes:

>Russia, moreover, has been excluded from any say in the future of Iran or its other allies. Instead, Russian oil companies are being squeezed out of post-Maduro Venezuela. In January, U.S. forces showed no compunction about seizing a Russian tanker that purportedly violated sanctions on dealing with Venezuela.

>That cavalier treatment must be painful for Mr. Putin, who longs to restore his country’s global clout to Soviet levels. President Trump’s mysterious affinity for the Russian strongman has been a major card in Mr. Putin’s hand, one he has hoped to parlay into Washington’s support for the victory he seeks in Ukraine: the capture of the whole of the Donbas region and the neutralization of Ukraine. Accordingly, Mr. Putin has avoided criticizing Mr. Trump personally for the fate of his friends.

>Yet Mr. Putin’s quandary — one that many other global leaders share — is that he has no idea what Mr. Trump may take it into his head to do next. Mr. Trump’s admiration for Mr. Putin has been punctuated by eruptions of pique, such as this one after a cabinet meeting last year: “I’m not happy with Putin, I can tell you that much right now, because he’s killing a lot of people,” Mr. Trump said, while praising Ukrainians as “very brave.”

Read the full piece [here, for free](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/opinion/russia-iran-us-putin-trump-ukraine.html?unlocked_article_code=1.b1A.smid.zX-j5b-HlMgj&smid=re-nytopinion), even without a Times subscription.