Russia manipulates Trump on U.S. natural resources deal — diplomat Bryza

Former U.S. Secretary of State advisor and former Director for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. National Security Council, Matthew Bryza, said this in an interview with Anton Borkovskyi, host of the Studio West program on Espreso TV.

Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, was the first to publicly play a psychological game when he gave an interview to CNN on the day of negotiations, February 18, in Riyadh. He stated that Russia does not want sanctions lifted.

“That was an attempt, I think, to manipulate Trump's delegation psychologically and increase Russia’s demands by pretending that, once they heard Trump might want to lift the sanctions on Russia, they could shift their position. Then Dmitriev said, "Well, no, no, we don’t want the sanctions lifted. We want even more." His effort is part of a psychological game, the same one played by Ushakov, Lavrov, Putin himself, and the security services representatives. The goal is to make Trump believe that what Putin wants is good for business, meaning good for Trump and American business,” Bryza explained.

But in reality, it benefits Russia, because what Russia truly wants is to lift sanctions on the only sector of its economy that has international potential – its natural resources sector. They are trying to persuade Trump that American companies will benefit, making it seem like a good deal for him. However, in truth, it is a way to rescue Russia’s economy from sanctions, says the diplomat.  

“And, of course, it also serves as a distraction from Trump's demand, presented by his Treasury Secretary, Bessent. Essentially, in a neo-colonial manner, the proposal would allow the U.S. to take control of 50% of Ukraine’s critical minerals and metals resources while securing 50% of the revenues from the remaining half of Ukraine’s minerals that wouldn’t be part of the deal,” he added.

As The Telegraph pointed out in an article earlier this week, those terms are even harsher than the ones imposed on Germany at the Versailles Conference and in the Versailles Treaty, which are conventionally thought to have devastated Germany’s economy and played a significant role in the rise of the Nazis. So Trump is demanding something that Ukraine could never agree to.  

“And now, through Dmitriev, Russia has offered a counterproposal, saying, "Okay, the Ukrainians aren’t going to give you what you want, so we will. It will be good for your companies, and it will be good for ours." It is a complex psychological game, and Trump is nowhere near understanding how he is being manipulated,” the diplomat concluded.

• On February 21, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. and Ukraine aim to finalize the minerals agreement by the end of the week.