So why, at the end of the year, did Putin seem reluctant to celebrate? Even his seemingly boastful statement on Thursday that “today we are stronger than any potential aggressor” was apparently a bit of trolling rather than self-aggrandizement. It provoked U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby to respond with high praise for the U.S. military, enabling a smirking Putin to stress at the press conference that he was only talking about aggressors.
One reason could be that Putin is yet to reap any tangible rewards from his seeming successes.
Putin, unlike many of his supporters, hasn’t acted overjoyed at Trump’s victory. It’s unclear how the mercurial billionaire will behave toward Russia and how much he’ll be constrained by a hostile Republican and Democratic establishment. Trump’s potentially Russia-friendly pick for secretary of state, Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, faces skeptical vetting by the Senate. Putin’s intentions concerning Ukraine-related sanctions are unclear — he hasn’t spoken on the issue since a non-committal response to a reporter’s question in July. In 2017, Putin could build an amicable relationship with Trump or have a monumental falling-out.
The EU has just extended sanctions against Russia through July. The buoyancy of Putin’s nationalist, euroskeptic allies in the West is still an unrealized threat to the establishment. In Austria, the Freedom Party, whose leaders recently came to Moscow to kowtow, has just suffered a painful electoral defeat, losing a bid for the presidency.
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