News
On April 21-22, a scientific conference dedicated to Donald Trump’s first 100 days back in the White House was held in Moscow. Vladimir Medinsky, Chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission on the Historical Education of Russia, announced that the efforts of the U.S. president to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine would be included in Russian school textbooks — even though those efforts have yet to yield any tangible results.
The conference, titled “100 Days of Lawmaking: Achievements and Challenges of the New D. Trump Administration,” was co-organized by the Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) and the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies (ISKRAN) — both of which are part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
According to the announcement of the event on IMEMO’s website, American studies scholars were invited to discuss “the challenges the American president faces in implementing his new agenda, how his early actions are impacting the U.S. and global economies, [...] how the balance of power in the federal government is shifting, how the image of the U.S. is changing internationally, and how American priorities toward allies and adversaries are being pursued in different parts of the world.”
The post for the two-day seminar, titled “100 Days of Lawmaking: Achievements and Challenges of the New D. Trump Administration.”
Image: IMEMO
The conference featured more than 30 presentations, including:
- Fighting Windmills: What is Government Efficiency and Who Is Trump Really Battling?
- Trumpism as a Crash Test for the U.S. Political System
- The Russian Marker in Trump’s Domestic Image: As Seen by American Cartoonists
- U.S.–Russia Relations: A New Détente?
- The Technological Republic: A New National Project for the U.S.
- What Comes After the Free World? Nation, Civilization, or Empire?
- “To Punish or to Pardon”: U.S. Public Diplomacy and Donald Trump
- Is There Economic Logic in Trump’s Tariff Escalation?
- The “Trump Plan” in Russian Textbooks
“Trump’s plan” in Russia’s history textbooks
Vladimir Medinsky, a contributor to Russia’s official history curriculum and an adviser to Vladimir Putin, claimed that Trump’s plan to end the war in Ukraine would be included in future editions of Russia’s unified history textbooks.
“The extraordinary efforts made by the new American administration to seek a reasonable settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, and the remarkable transformations underway in U.S. domestic politics — these, without a doubt, will appear on the pages of Russian and world history textbooks when the next edition is prepared. One can say that Trump has already entered the history books,” Medinsky said.
Previously, Russia’s Ministry of Education announced that new history textbooks for grades 5 through 9 would be introduced in schools starting Sept. 1. Medinsky participated in drafting the content. Unified history textbooks for grades 10 and 11 were introduced in 2023.
On April 20, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, expressing hope that “Russia and Ukraine will make a deal” as early as next week, after which both will “start to do big business with the U.S.” However, no official details have emerged regarding the U.S. plan to end the war. Sources cited by U.S. media have indicated that the plan may involve recognition of Russia’s control over occupied Ukrainian territories, easing of sanctions, and the abandonment of Ukraine’s NATO membership bid.
“He prayed for the President”
Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken of Donald Trump with both praise and respect. Shortly after Trump returned to office, Putin referred to him as the “master” of Europe. According to Putin, European leaders dislike Trump and attempted to interfere with his election campaign, but they will ultimately have no choice but to follow his lead.
“I assure you, Trump — with his character and persistence — will bring order there quickly. And they will all sit at the feet of the master, wagging their tails affectionately. Everything will fall into place,” Putin said.
In late March, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff gave an interview describing his meeting with Putin. According to Witkoff, the Russian head of state had commissioned “a beautiful portrait of Trump by one of Russia’s leading artists” and gave it to him as a gift. It was later revealed that the artist was Nikas Safronov, known for his “psychological portraits” of leaders including Putin himself.
Putin also reportedly told Witkoff he had been deeply concerned following an assassination attempt on Trump during the election campaign:
“He went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed for the president, not because he was the President of the United States [...] but because he had a friendship with him and he was praying for his friend,” Witkoff said.