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President Donald Trump on Monday criticized his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, after the test of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile.
Speaking aboard Air Force One as he traveled to Japan, Trump advised Putin, who boasted about the weapon’s lethality, to focus on ending the 44-month conflict in Ukraine.
“I don’t think it’s an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying,” he said. “He ought to get the war ended. That’s what he ought to do instead of testing missiles.”
The president told reporters that the United States tests missiles all the time and owns a nuclear submarine, “the greatest in the world, right off their (Russia’s) shore.”
In his reaction, Moscow critic Yuriy Boyechko described the tests of the Burevestnik and Yars ballistic missiles as “nuclear blackmail in its purest form.”
The Hope for Ukraine founder insists the tests were not random military exercises, but calculated psychological operations “designed to exploit Trump’s vulnerabilities and force him into submission.”
Boyechko observed that every time Trump imposes sanctions, such as those against Rosneft and Lukoil, Putin responds with nuclear saber-rattling to get America to back down or risk escalation.
He said the manipulation runs deeper than mere intimidation as the Russian leader understands that Trump operates under intense domestic pressure and craves decisive wins without protracted conflicts.
Boyechko added that by brandishing nuclear weapons, Putin is attempting to corner Trump into a false choice: either accept Russian aggression in Ukraine and beyond, or face the prospect of nuclear war.
According to the humanitarian, the current situation is a masterclass in coercive diplomacy, where President Putin uses the ultimate weapon not to destroy, but to control.
“As Trump’s options appear to narrow under this nuclear shadow, Putin may overplay his hand, miscalculating that his isolated position and dwindling resources can sustain this bluff indefinitely,” he noted.
