38 Comments
User's avatar
EUWDTB's avatar

Incredible... this is a pretty explosive article. And on top of it all, indeed, no Substack that I'm following mentioned the utterly SHOCKING fact that Russia is NOT part of the countries sanctioned (for what??!!) with additional, massive tariffs.

THANK YOU Olga!!

We vitally need real, high-quality reporting in times like these.

Expand full comment
TessaRakt's avatar

Very few observers are putting all the pieces together. Olga is one of them.

Expand full comment
Mitch Wright's avatar

Agreed, this is an outstanding post.

Heather Cox Richardson also connected the dots:

"While Trump imposed tariffs on Australia’s remote Heard and McDonald Islands, which are uninhabited except by wildlife like seals and penguins, it did not put tariffs on Russia. A different financial shift lifted sanctions against senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev, to permit him to travel to Washington, D.C., today to meet with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff..."

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/april-2-2025-wednesday?r=4yoxc5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Expand full comment
Laurie's avatar

Incredible but not surprising, honestly. I’ll be writing you my Senator about this. I don’t understand why this isn’t being discussed and called out. I’ve heard endless expressions of outrage about these tariffs but only Olga points out that Russia isn’t facing any tariffs and no one anywhere is discussing this sanctioned Russian being invited to the WH!

Expand full comment
Marlo's avatar

We should ALL sent this to ALL the Senators AND Representatives. This is veiled TREASON!

Expand full comment
HilaryI's avatar

It’s not being called out because tariffs and they continue to “flood the zone,” very effective. Just too much BS.

Expand full comment
Babette Albin's avatar

As reprehensible as this scenario is, the brazen takeover is a classic con tactic.

Remember: “Russia, if your listening. . . .

And Putin’s full page ad in the NYTimes during the first Trump take-over, addressed to Our American Friends!

Meryl Streep portrays several different characters in an international, fraud scheme in “The Laundromat.”

Let’s not forget “The Manchurian Candidate” and the smooth operator, Angela Lansbury.

The current scenario is so idiotic, every time l wake up from paralyzingly nightmares, l wonder if l should wonder if l should just role over play dead. But l have got time to bury my head in the sand. Not with these desert storms.

And now a joint venture to Mars! Who’s writing this vacuous script?

Anton Chekhov, where are you? The cherry blossoms are coming to DC and with them, the Russians and Nazis my grandparents fled in 1910!

Expand full comment
Valerii Terentev's avatar

Russia has rejected Trump's offer for peace in Ukraine. The White House now understands that there will be no quick deal. Russia cannot accept the US' proposal to end the war in their "current form" since they do not address the issues that Moscow considers the primary reasons for the invasion, stated Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. Notably, Moscow wants Ukraine to renounce its intentions to join NATO, seeks full control over four Ukrainian regions it deems its own, and reducing the Ukrainian military. Kyiv views these demands as a capitulation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Moscow continues dialogue with the American side but added that "the topic is very complex" and the matter being discussed is "extremely difficult and requires significant efforts."

The Trump administration ultimately recognized that reaching a peace agreement on Ukraine could be a prolonged process. As a result, Washington is exploring new mechanisms to exert pressure on both Kyiv and Moscow. Specifically, Trump expressed disappointment with the Russian leader's actions and believes he is delaying negotiations for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine. Consequently, the US is preparing to ramp up sanctions targeting the Russian shadow fleet.

https://lnkd.in/d7TqZiNm

Expand full comment
Marlo's avatar

Outrageous! Trump needs to be IMPEACHED NOW!

Excellent reporting, Olga!

Expand full comment
Doug Hiller's avatar

Absolutely !!

There may be early indications that even some repugnicans may be sensing this and come on board. It MUST be worked toward.

Expand full comment
Marlo's avatar

They are! contact Mike Johnson and tell him to let the Republicans and Democrats VOTE on the tariffs.  Let it come to the floor for a VOTE!  202-224-3121

“Malignant Stupidity”

“The Trump formula is apparently what you get if you ask ChatGPT and other AI models to make tariff policy:

Elon Musk’s Dunning-Kruger kids might be responsible for those tariff numbers. That now looks like a distinct possibility.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/paulkrugman/p/will-careless-stupidity-kill-the

Expand full comment
Thomas Clinton Dorwart's avatar

Great work. As always.

Expand full comment
Valerii Terentev's avatar

Please tell Trump and Witkoff that Putin, Moscow will cheat and bail on all companies who will decide to do business with them, just like they have done so before.

Americans will even be allowed to invest billions, and Moscow will confiscate it all. Moscow is not going to give anything without taking 10x from America.

Expand full comment
Kyle Holbrook's avatar

The master of the con always gets other cons- The movie "The Sting" epitomizes this ethos.

Expand full comment
Chris David's avatar

Decades, even centuries from now, historians will still be writing about the stupidity of half the human race and Americans especially, who even as Trump cooperates with the Kremlin in broad daylight can't figure out what's really going on.

Trump is Russia's most valuable asset in all its modern day history, as the POTUS47 facilitates the terror rained down on Ukraine by what I can only describe as a terrorist state.

Why are Americans sucking up the lemon still?

Expand full comment
Richard Bedingfield's avatar

So what more proof does the USA need that Trump already has a disgraceful deal with Putin subject to final details? Sanctioned Russians in the Whitehouse should never happen.

Expand full comment
Doug Hiller's avatar

The arrogant, preposterous treachery of this trump regime knows no bounds.

Expand full comment
Martha Redsecker's avatar

nailed it, big time!

Expand full comment
Doug Hiller's avatar

For years, and now again on the front burner, I have considered it obvious that trump is absolutely a TRAITOR to the United States. He is now, because of his age and his temporarily re-found (re-stolen) position of power, in a hurry to capitalize on his traitorous relationship with Russia, to dismantle democracy and remake the United States into another Russia on the world stage. All to perpetuate his “greatness” in the history books, get his face on Mt Rushmore, etc. He is not capable of comprehending the level of contempt he has earned and will deserve in perpetuity.

The Russian model of government is built on kleptocracy - to fund all the power and control over the population by oligarchs, of which we are well along on creating and nurturing in the United States. There is no shortage of names of those who are standing in line to move up on the scale within the oligarchy, or join it. The further along they are successful at solidifying this fascist oligarchy in the U.S., the harder it will become to dismantle.

Trump AND VANCE must go. Impeachment has to be worked for. Even if wounded, by losing both houses of Congress in the midterms, trump can wreak serious harm over the years while we grind toward the 2028 election.

Expand full comment
Richard Bedingfield's avatar

It is the length of that queue that shocks us in the UK most. One can understand a few rich hopefuls hoping to cash in but not nearly all the GOP. How on earth the evangelical mob has managed to reinterpret the biblical texts, we will never understand. They should be shouting opposition from the rooftops.

Expand full comment
Johan Grillo's avatar

Swine

Expand full comment
Chuck Kessler's avatar

Thank you for calling out Witkoff for what he truly represents. I saw a discussion with Dennis Ross last night who gave him far more legitimacy than is warranted - I couldn’t help but shake my head.

Expand full comment
JD29's avatar

Must have more Russian oligarchs looking to buy Trump condos for dirty cash

Expand full comment
Lizzie de Rham's avatar

Thank you so much for your strong voice and courageous words!

Expand full comment
Oðrun's avatar

Impound Krasnov.

Expand full comment
Frau Katze's avatar

Is Tucker Carlson receiving Russian money? Why is so 100% pro-Russia? It seems odd. He has no obvious connection to Russia, like Russian ancestry or a Russian wife.

Expand full comment
Valerii Terentev's avatar

By the way. please tell Trump and Witkoff that Putin, Moscow will cheat and bail on all companies who will decide to do business with them, just like they have done it before.

Americans will even be allowed to invest billions, and Moscow will confiscate it all. Moscow is not going to give anything without taking 10x from America.

Expand full comment