A popular Russian tabloid hit President Trump Friday for "contradictory" statements on NATO, signaling somewhat of a change in tone on the president who has mostly received positive coverage in Russia, the BBC reported.

"(During the election campaign) Trump had called the Alliance obsolete and useless. Less than two months have passed since he moved into the Oval Office and he's already expressed full support for NATO," the tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote.

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"As the saying goes, you need to be drunk to understand the true position of America's president."





The article comes a day after reports that Moscow is instructing Russian state media to reduce their favorable coverage of President Trump.

Three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg the order is a sign of growing concerns from top Russian officials that the Trump administration is not going to be as pro-Russian as they initially thought.

According to those reports, the Kremlin became concerned when mentions of Trump in January eclipsed mentions of Vladimir Putin for the first time since he was reelected president in 2012.

Russia originally welcomed Trump's election and calls for improving relations between the two countries, but recent international developments have cast doubt on the relationship.

Numerous White House officials, including Trump, have recently knocked Russia for its annexation of Crimea and the subsequent violence in Ukraine.