Watch: Russian State TV Calls Trump An ‘Agent’ & Putin His ‘Puppet Master’ [Video]

The Russian state television channels are not mincing their words when it comes to the U.S. political crisis.

TV channel Rossiya 1 aired a segment last week entitled, “’Puppet Master ‘and ‘Agent’—How to Understand Lavrov’s Meeting With Trump.”

While the U.S. is deeply mired in the impeachment and trial of President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, its rival Russia is gloating over the U.S.’s tribulations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov returned home from his visit with Trump in the Oval Office last week. There was a photograph of Trump and him in the Oval Office where he stands behind Trump. It is as if he is symbolically the hand behind the throne.

Vesti Nedeli, a Sunday news show on the same network, pointed out that it was Trump, personally, who asked Lavrov to pose standing near as Trump sat at his desk. It’s almost the literal image of a power behind the throne.

In the meantime, much to Russia’s satisfaction, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is still waiting for that critical White House meeting with the American president. The famous “quid pro quo” of Zelensky announcing an investigation that would smear Democratic challenger Joe Biden was never completed.

Russian state television still views the impending impeachment trial as a bump in the road that won’t lead to Trump’s removal from office. But Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s propaganda brigades enjoy watching the heightened divisions in the United States, and how it hurts relations between the U.S. and Ukraine.

Putin has expressed undisguised delight with the crusade led by Trump and Giuliani to whitewash Moscow’s interference in the U.S. elections and pin the blame on Kyiv. Last month, the Russian president smugly remarked, “Thank God no one is accusing us of interfering in the U.S. elections anymore. Now they’re accusing Ukraine.”

Russia’s State TV hosts are abundantly demonstrating their bravado in the media. They brag that Trump is a Russian agent.