Russia Responds to Trump’s ‘Paper Tiger’ Comment and Ukrainian Lands Dispute

Russia denied on Wednesday (24) being a ‘paper tiger’ and stated that Ukraine will not recover any territory taken by Russian troops, in response to the change in tone adopted by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, regarding the conflict. Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia would be closer to being ‘a real bear’ when countering Trump’s statement, calling the country a ‘paper tiger’. ‘Russia is definitely not a tiger. After all, Russia is often compared to a bear. There are no ‘paper bears’ and Russia is a real bear,’ Peskov stated in an interview with the Russian broadcaster RBC. Peskov, in a press conference at the Kremlin, told reporters that the idea of Ukraine recovering anything in the war, which has lasted over three and a half years, is ‘deeply mistaken’. He also mentioned that the Russian economy fully meets the needs of the Armed Forces and that this is ‘not a purposeless war’. Peskov’s remarks were a clear rejection of statements made by Trump on Tuesday after meeting with Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. In a shift in tone regarding the war, the American leader said Ukraine could regain all the territory lost since the conflict began and that, after obtaining more information about the Russian economy, this would be ‘the moment to act.’ ‘Paper tiger’ is an expression used to define something that seems powerful and threatening, but in practice, is fragile. Chinese leader Mao Zedong popularized the term to refer to opposing forces, including the United States.