MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump shocks the world by striking Iran, cementing himself as a president of war; and how Tehran will respond to US strikes on its nuclear sites remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Belarus looks to build relations with the United States. These stories topped Monday's newspaper headlines in Russia.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Trump becomes president of war
Defying voices inside the United States telling him not to, Donald Trump decided ultimately to give the order to bomb Iran. The White House called Operation Midnight Hammer a success, without giving any guarantees, however, that Washington would stop there, and not step deeper into the Israeli-Iranian war. While protests are being held worldwide, it’s unlikely that these will translate to any practical action against the United States. Meanwhile, in the US, calls are being made to impeach Trump for reneging on his election pledge to be a president of peace, not war. For Russia, this u-turn in White House policy may mark the end of Trump’s peacemaking efforts on the Russia-Ukraine track.
At a joint news conference with US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth called the US strike "an incredible and overwhelming success." However, Caine was a bit more cautious, saying that the damage done to Iran has yet to be assessed.
While it’s unclear whether there is some kind of rift inside the Trump administration, House Republicans made no bones about their displeasure with the attacks. Several members of Congress on both sides openly condemned the strikes on Iran. US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the most vocal in her criticism, calling for Trump to be impeached.
According to Vladimir Vasilyev, senior research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for US and Canadian Studies, Trump now has a hard decision ahead of him after dipping US toes in the Iran conflict. "As the situation unfolds, Trump may come to the conclusion that he has no choice but to see the war through. Otherwise, he risks being recognized as neither a president of peace nor a president of war," the expert believes.
Officially, Israel was the only US ally to express its unconditional support for the US strike, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praising Trump’s "bold decision." Other US allies were guarded in their response to what happened, not wanting to place themselves in the middle of what is now the US-Iranian conflict.
Still, the gravity of the latest developments is not lost on anyone. Trump has now crossed the Rubicon, Vasilyev told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. "It is clear now that he can deliver on his threats. This, too, will show in his domestic policies. Liberal America is facing a new imperative — that Trump must be removed, because if such events are happening so early in his presidency, there’s no telling what else he might do," the expert maintained.
Izvestia: How and when Iran might respond to US strikes
On Sunday morning, the US carried out a large-scale strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, sending shockwaves across both the Middle East and inside the United States itself. US President Donald Trump said the attack completely obliterated Tehran’s enrichment capabilities, threatening more attacks unless negotiations followed. The US operation targeted key Iranian nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan using strategic US aircraft and missiles launched from submarines. Iran confirmed the attack, declaring its right to self-defense and warning of serious consequences. Russia resolutely condemned the US attack on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities and called on the sides to return to the political-diplomatic track.
Dmitry Kornev, editor-in-chief of the Military Russia project, shared the details of the attack with Izvestia. "GBU-57 bombs, the world’s heaviest precision-guided bombs, designed to destroy well-fortified targets deep beneath the ground, were launched at Fordow. They were carried by B-2 stealth bombers," he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has already arrived in Moscow for a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Iran’s potential exit from the Non-Proliferation Treaty will be a likely topic of discussion at the meeting with the Russian president, as there’s no getting around this issue now," analyst Tigran Meloyan from the HSE Mediterranean Studies Center told Izvestia.
Now that the US has entered the conflict, the expert sees two courses of action for Iran: either capitulate and negotiate, or block the Strait of Hormuz. He doubts Tehran will retaliate by attacking US military facilities in the Middle East as this could drag Washington deeper into the war, risking major consequences for the Islamic Republic.
The more probable scenario is that Iran will choose to close the Strait of Hormuz, the analyst stressed. This step will push global oil prices up, impacting fuel prices in the US and hurting European economies. Meanwhile, he went on, Iran will continue its ballistic missile attacks on Israel. "A complete lack of response would be perceived as weakness both inside and outside the country. The challenge for Iran now is to craft a carefully calibrated response — one that avoids escalating the conflict, while preserving internal legitimacy and its standing on the world stage," he added.
Vedomosti: Belarusian President Lukashenko looking to develop ties with US
On June 21, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met with the US president’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg. The latter’s visit, Reuters reported, is seen as a step toward jump-starting peace talks on Ukraine. Belarus’ BelTA state-run news agency revealed that Lukashenko and Kellogg discussed the global political situation, including Ukraine, and bilateral relations between Minsk and Washington.
Kellogg’s visit came as 14 Belarusian prisoners, including the husband of ex-presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya were released following a request from US President Donald Trump, Lukashenko’s press secretary Natalia Eismont said. Besides, the two sides discussed the functioning of the two countries’ diplomatic missions.
Vyacheslav Sutyrin, an associate professor at MGIMO University, told Vedomosti that the Kellogg-Lukashenko meeting does not open new channels for negotiations on the Russia-Ukraine track, noting that direct talks between Moscow and Kiev have already been held. The visit’s significance should be seen in the context of restoring bilateral relations between the United States and Minsk. According to the expert, President Trump does not consider himself to be in any way bound by steps taken by the Biden administration or the EU which sought to overthrow the current regime in Belarus. Washington is pursuing the strategic goal of trying to drive a wedge between Minsk and Moscow and also revisiting its carrot-and-stick policies, dangling the incentive of normalizing relations in exchange for certain concessions. For Belarus, meanwhile, restoring relations with the United States would serve to strengthen its own negotiating positions.
The US attitude to Europe, which has changed night and day with the return of Trump to the White House, naturally implies an attempt to normalize the Belarus-US relations following attempted moves to restore the relationship between Russia and the United States, editor-in-chief of RuBaltic.Ru and Eurasia.Expert Alexander Nosovich told Vedomosti. Given Trump is sincerely seeking to switch from confrontation to containment in his concept of relations with Russia, such constructive relations within the US-Belarus-Russia triangle are possible in theory, he concluded.
Izvestia: Britain trains 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers in past three years
Since 2022, Great Britain has trained 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers, and it has further plans to move their training to western Ukraine, the Russian embassy in London told Izvestia. Backing this initiative are 13 countries, including the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo. Britain continues with its goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, actively trying to derail the peace process, including with potential plans to send troops to Ukraine.
Supporting the Ukrainian armed forces remains one of the key tools of the UK’s policy to counter Russia in the post-Soviet space, senior research fellow at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO Kira Godovanyuk told Izvestia. "That’s a very important trump card to present to the British electorate, hence previous Conservative governments and the current Labor government have prioritized that," the expert explained. London is positioning itself as a decisive and active player on the European stage — rallying allies under its leadership to counter Russia and shape European security according to its own interests. To do this, she stressed, Russia needs to be weakened as much as possible.
It is London and not Washington or even Kiev that has been the biggest thorn hampering efforts toward resolving the Ukraine conflict peacefully: the kingdom’s strategic documents clearly outline a policy aimed at defeating Russia, which is designated as the principal threat, Vasilisa Kuznetsova, an analyst at the Institute for International Studies of MGIMO University, commented to Izvestia.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Russia's economy shifts from cooling to heating
The period of ultrahigh interest rates which has continued in Russia over the past 28 months has now been replaced with calls to warm up the stagnating Russian economy. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statements about the need to avoid either stagnation or a recession are likely to trigger a series of rate cuts by the Central Bank. The government says with confidence that inflation is already below the CBR’s 4% target, therefore ministers advise it to "move fast with a decision that would help the economy to move forward, rather than freeze it."
On the one hand, the regulator affirmed its commitment to the 4% inflation target and willingness to lower the key rate, and on the other, it reported a trend toward a slower inflation, the sustainability of which has yet to be confirmed. CBR Governor Elvira Nabiullina believes that economic growth will slow down further down the road as Russia moves away from economy overheating.
Experts say a relevant discussion at SPIEF 2025 marked a turning point. "Even as Nabiullina continued to talk about the need to combat inflation, her rhetoric has softened significantly," Vadim Kovrigin, an associate professor at Plekhanov University, said as he expects a gradual period of monetary easing from July. "Unless this cooling period is stopped now, we may face major stagflation," the economist warned.
The growth rate of the Russian economy, lowering inflation, and consistently low unemployment indicate that the Russian economy has reached a point of stability, Ivan Petrov, professor at Financial University, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
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