澳门六合彩

On the face of it, Russia is one of the few countries in the world that would have welcomed a triumph of Donald Trump, the U.S. president-elect. But the day of Russia鈥檚 first reactions to the news from the U.S. made me think that the Kremlin was not really sure it needed a Trump win. More likely it needed a Trump loss.

Russians are big Trump enthusiasts, international polls suggest. If other countries could help choose an American president, Russia鈥檚 vote would have been for Donald Trump. Of six major non-U.S. states polled by the survey company Pollfish in late October, Russia聽聽giving more support to Trump than to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party鈥檚 candidate.

But this is probably a reflection of the heavily pro-Trump coverage Russian audiences have been fed on a daily basis. Yesterday was the apogee of it: no other news made it onto the three major news channels鈥� prime-time segments. Channel One, Russia One, and NTV were talking only about Trump, Clinton, and President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 early cable of congratulations. 鈥淩ussia is ready and looks forward to聽聽with the United States,鈥� Putin said in his message.

The Duma MPs applauded when they heard the news of Trump鈥檚 electoral triumph during a plenary session. Russia鈥檚 most famous pro-Kremlin politicians (other kinds are not invited to be on the major networks) welcomed the Trump win. The communist Gennady Zyuganov said President Trump would 鈥渕ake life easier for Russia.鈥� The veteran populist Zhirinovsky聽聽to have thrown a celebration party in the Duma, Russia鈥檚 lower house of parliament.

But the day of Russia鈥檚 first reactions to the news from the U.S. made me think that the Kremlin was not really sure it needed a Trump win. More likely it needed a Trump loss.

And yet it was clear yesterday that the Clinton upset was as much of a surprise for the Russian elites as it was for the establishments in many other countries. Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the International Relations Committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, told Russia One that he聽聽Trump to win because he 鈥渨ent against the system.鈥� 鈥淎nd the Americans have taught me that the system always prevails,鈥� Kosachev聽聽as saying.

鈥淭he system鈥� is an important term in the Russian political vocabulary. This vague word usually refers to a combination of direct and indirect influence that the government institutions, media, and punditry have over society. A clever system, in the Russian establishment鈥檚 view, is the one that can keep its grip on power while holding elections and paying lip service to other democratic institutions. Many in Moscow are convinced that this is how the U.S. system works and that this is what Russia has to learn from the Americans: the system should always prevail.

My reading of Moscow鈥檚 reactions yesterday is that the Kremlin only needed Trump as a good story, not as a real counterpart to Putin. Trump the underdog who went against the system and failed would be a protagonist in a saga of a rigged election. Dmitry Kiselev, a journalist often considered Russia鈥檚 propagandist-in-chief,聽聽that the presidential campaign was bound to produce a 鈥渓ame-duck president since day one.鈥�

鈥淒emocracy R.I.P.,鈥� Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT,聽聽on election night. Simonyan meant that while Clinton was winning,聽democracy was losing. She later wrote that she had聽聽on the Trump win.

I would not be surprised to learn that Russia鈥檚 state media were preparing a campaign built around Trump鈥檚 earlier 鈥渞igged election鈥� claims. It would make perfect sense as retaliation for Hillary Clinton鈥檚 statements five years ago that the Russian parliamentary election of 2011 was 鈥渘either free, nor fair.鈥� That comment was said to have infuriated Putin,聽聽that Clinton, by questioning the fairness of the Russian electoral system, signaled to certain actors within Russia to start an anti-government protest.

Several Kremlin insiders who聽聽on Thursday also expected Trump would lose. Most of them said Putin was likely to be cautious to see just how far Trump was ready to go before opening the embrace too far.

The real Donald Trump as president is as enigmatic a figure for the Kremlin as he is for anyone. 鈥淲hat we have heard Trump saying about Russia was campaign rhetoric,鈥� Kosachev, the Federation Council member,聽. 鈥淚 would expect this rhetoric to tone down in the coming months.... Right now we should not change anything in our policies toward the U.S.鈥澛�

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.