A few years ago, it would have looked like mission impossible for even
the most capable Russian spy. Divide the United States from its allies?
Check. Discredit its normative power (human rights, the rule of law,
democracy, altruism)? Check. Weaken U.S. institutions to make further manipulation easier? Check.

One could go on. But it’s simpler to try testing the opposite
hypothesis. Name one thing that U.S. President Donald Trump has done
since taking office that the Kremlin did not like. Crickets.

True, he’s issued a rhetorical warning about potential sanctions against Russia. He’s kept ostentatiously friendly relations with two core
allies, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President
Emmanuel Macron. But listen to the dismay in London and Paris, and it’s
clear that these are mere gestures: symbolic, not practical.

Does what critics see as Trump’s helter-skelter adoption of Kremlin
talking points and to-do lists make the U.S. president a Russian
asset—what one might call a Muscovian candidate? I’ve spent four decades dealing with Soviet and then Russian intelligence services, their
stunts, and their provocations. I have been interrogated by the KGB (incompetently). I’ve written a book on East-West espionage. I agree
that Trump’s past conduct is highly questionable—circumstantial evidence
of Russian mischief abounds. He would certainly fail even the most basic
check for a security clearance.

The case for motivation and opportunity are easily made. Two retired
Russian spies allege that Trump was compromised on his trip to the
Soviet Union in 1987 and given the codename “Krasnov.” Trump could well have succumbed to the KGB’s trademark cocktail of flattery and blackmail
on that trip. Many other Westerners did. I can also believe that Russia funneled money to Trump in the 1990s to keep his near-bankrupt business
empire afloat. I agree that he’s surrounded himself with grifters and oddballs who give spy catchers hives.

But actually running him as an agent? Can you really imagine Trump
turning up on time for a clandestine meeting? Remembering where the dead
drop is? Filing reports? Using a code book properly? Keeping secrets?
Obeying orders? His chaotic, petulant mindset would be a case officer’s nightmare.

The more likely and simpler explanation is that Trump is just what he
seems: a Vladimir Putin fanboy—and wildly greedy to boot. He may be an
asset to Russia but is not in the formal sense a Russian asset. He
admires the Russian president-for-life’s strongman style and the way his regime allows insiders (and Putin himself) to turn power into wealth.

In any case, the result is the same.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/10/trump-putin-russia-asset-spy-security-ukraine-europe-war/

Krasnov has done a terrific job.

--
“We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him. We shouldn’t have listened to him, and we can’t let that happen ever again”.
-- Nikki Haley

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