In Russia's Telling, America Suddenly Isn't Terrible

Russia's propaganda machine has for years had plenty of fodder to work with as far as the US is concerned. We've been "egoistic," a "puppeteer" trying to act as the "master across the ocean" in its telling. But as the New York Times reports, there's been "some head-spinning changes" in the way Russia characterizes the US in just the last month. It's now Europe that's the bugbear, and the paper points to a Sunday interview given by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov—historically not one to mince words when it comes to the US—as evidence.

"Colonization, wars, crusaders, the Crimean War, Napoleon, World War I, Hitler," Lavrov said, detailing the problems Europe has heaped upon the world. "If we look at history in retrospect, the Americans did not play any instigating, let alone incendiary, role," he added. The Times details the turning points: President Trump and Vladimir Putin's Feb. 12 call; the US siding with Russia when the UN General Assembly condemned Russia for the war in Ukraine on Feb. 24; and President Zelensky's Oval Office "slap down."

Russians aren't exactly swallowing the new stance unquestioned: A reporter on Russian state TV on Sunday asked a Kremlin rep about the about-face, considering "a couple of months ago we were publicly saying that we were almost enemies." The reply of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov: "This, indeed, couldn't have been imagined," he said. The Washington Post quotes him as explaining, "The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely aligns with our vision." (More Vladimir Putin stories.)