President Donald Trump read a prepared statement on Tuesday in which he attempted to walk back remarks from his widely criticized joint press conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Trump then immediately contradicted himself and reverted to questioning the U.S. intelligence community’s consensus assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

Russian state media is really enjoying the reaction to Trump’s recent rhetoric and performance in Helsinki.

According to reporter and Russian media analyst Julia Davis, Russia’s state television accused the President of the United States of “licking Putin’s boots” during Monday’s press conference:

#Russia's state TV:

The host: "Let's analyze Trump's performance at the presser. At which point in time could you say he was licking Putin's boots? Why did @Schwarzenegger describe him as a wet noodle?… He said nothing about the annexation, [Russian] aggression or #Skripal."©️ pic.twitter.com/dPCJkgVGRt — Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) July 17, 2018

Then Russian state TV suggested that Trump “really smells like an agent of the Kremlin”:

#Russia's state TV host:

"It is very bizarre, you can't bash your own country like that – especially when you're the President."

Female host: "When Trump says our relations are bad because of American foolishness and stupidity, he really smells like an agent of the Kremlin." ©️ pic.twitter.com/8fRLrZbUul — Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) July 18, 2018

Following Trump’s attempted clean-up on Tuesday, Russian media speculated that Trump only tried to reverse course due to the intense criticism of his remarks:

#Russia's state TV:

The Russians scoff at Trump's attempt to "correct" what he said @ the #HelsinkiSummit.

Sergey Fedorov: "It's very simple. First time, he said what he thought. Then he got back to the Oval Office, discovered a hysterical reaction & realized he overdid it."©️ pic.twitter.com/W2rotdHFno — Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) July 18, 2018

This analysis closely resembled what Fox News’ Tucker Carlson said about Trump’s brief flip-flop, referring to it as a “hostage tape” on Tuesday:

“As the rage-storm swirled, the president bowed to the inevitable, genuflecting before U.S. Intelligence agencies whose judgment must never be questioned and recited the oath of loyalty to the spy bureaucrats in charge of the country.”

Elsewhere in state-run Russian media, a newspaper headline proclaimed “The West’s attempts to isolate Russia failed.” RT reacted to the Helsinki summit by declaring “The Cold War is over” and claiming the U.S. and Russia are now allies.


Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who met with Trump in the Oval Office last year, said the talks between Putin and the U.S. president were “Magnificent… Better than super.”