Rare earth, precious partnership Vladimir Putin has invited American ‘partners’ to mine in Russia, enraging many of the Ukraine invasion’s most zealous supporters
On February 24, Vladimir Putin announced that he is ready to cooperate with foreign partners to develop Russia’s rare earth metal deposits, including in the regions of eastern Ukraine annexed by Moscow. “We would gladly work together with any foreign partners, including American ones. The same applies to [our] new territories. We’re ready to involve foreign partners in the so-called new, historically ours, territories that have returned to the Russian Federation,” Putin told state propagandist Pavel Zarubin. On February 25, NBC News reported that the Kremlin has offered Washington “some ownership of rare earth minerals and other valuable metals in parts of Ukraine controlled by the Russian military.”
Donald Trump has welcomed the idea of mining Russia's rare earth resources, telling reporters, “We’d like to buy minerals on Russian land, too, if we can. They have very good rare earth, also. They both do. And oil and gas. Look, it’s a great thing. […] It’s great for Russia, too. Because we can do deals there. They have very valuable land that isn't utilized.”
This exchange belongs to a growing body of soundbites and public signals in a rapprochement between Washington and Moscow spearheaded by America’s new president. In the West, Trump’s overtures to Putin have jettisoned years of U.S. policy and outraged political establishments on both sides of the Atlantic. In Russia, open indignation against Putin is less common, but many of the invasion’s outspoken supporters have nevertheless criticized the president’s willingness to consider renewing economic cooperation with the Americans.
Ivan Filippov monitors Russian milibloggers on his Telegram channel Na Zzzzzapadnom Fronte Bez Peremen (All Quiet on the Wezzzzztern Front), summarizing “only the finest, top-quality whining from the leading pro-war authors.” Earlier this week, Filippov wrote about reactions in the Z-blogosphere to President Putin’s mining offer to Russia’s American “partners.” Meduza translates the excerpts he collected, dividing them into outright critical responses and more understanding interpretations.
Putin is off his rocker
Romanov Lite (140,500 subscribers)
It took the U.S. eleven years to realize that handing out cookies in Moscow is more profitable than on the Maidan. (Should we expect to be charged with “discrediting” American-Russian relations?)
Dva Majors (1.2 million subscribers)
To be honest, we kinda missed the moment when the damn Yankees’ rabid drive to steal Russia’s natural wealth suddenly turned into a prospect for mutually beneficial cooperation with our American “partners.”
While both foreign and domestic media obsess over politicians blathering on together, allow me to remind you quietly and modestly that the 1,000-kilometer front line isn’t going anywhere, and the men mobilized in 2022 are still in their units […].
Alex Parker Returns (245,000 subscribers)
[Image showing Zelensky saying, “We will be a raw materials appendage of the U.S.” and a second image showing Putin saying, “(No), the U.S.’s raw materials appendage will be us.”]
Grandpa’s losing it. Russia is ready to offer the U.S. more rare earth resources than Ukraine. In fact, we’re more than happy to offer these resources to our American partners — including from the new territories, where there are also deposits. We’ve got an order of magnitude more of these resources. Russia is the world leader in rare earth metal reserves. Russia and the U.S. could launch joint aluminum mining projects, for example, in Krasnoyarsk. Russia is ready to supply the U.S. with 2 million tons of aluminum, which would help stabilize prices.
The American political bulldozer, of course, has the betas trembling like a snake squeezing its prey. And why am I not surprised?
Belarusian Silovik (380,500 subscribers)
OH, WOW, NOW THERE’S A PLOT TWIST! Putin stated that Russia would be willing to offer the U.S. an opportunity for joint cooperation in the field of rare earth metals.
Kargach (25,650 subscribers)
‘DENAZIFICATION’ MEANS SELLING RARE EARTH METALS TO THE U.S., EH?
Intuitsiya Podskazhet (45,000 subscribers)
Tonight’s sales report: Murmansk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, the Caucasus, the Far East, the Irkutsk region, Yakutia, and Tuva.
[Excerpt from Kommersant story on Putin’s invitation to American mining interests.]
Isn’t this just a copy-paste of Zelensky? [We’re] just two colonies handing over resources to the metropole in exchange for “honest mediation.”
I’ve written many times about the “bastard outcome” of this war, but this? Even [Nikolai Gogol’s Ukrainian nationalist character Taras] Bulba wouldn’t have come up with something this fucked up.
Give Putin a chance
Roman Antonovsky (75,000 subscribers)
Russian leftists accuse right-wing patriots of Trump-worship. They say a fascist named Trump has come to power, and Russian nationalists have sworn allegiance to him. That, of course, is bullshit. Unlike leftists and liberals, we Russian nationalists swear allegiance to no one but our Motherland, our people, and the Lord. There is no “Trumpophilia” here — just pragmatism and cautious optimism.
Let’s look at the facts. For the past three years, Ukraine has been fighting us solely thanks to U.S. support. No matter how much Zelensky and the Bidens skimmed off the top, billions of dollars and piles of military gear still made it to the [damn Ukrainians].
It’s obvious that we’re winning this war. But it’s also obvious that, as long as the U.S. keeps backing Ukraine, this war could drag on for maybe another five years. They’ll keep rounding up more people, and if necessary, they’ll bring in mercenaries from all over the world — Poles, Balts, you name it. And then we’ll spend years taking villages, month by month, where [the damn Ukrainians] are holed up with Western weapons clutched in their teeth and Starlink sats overhead. […]
Trump is a sneaky bastard, no doubt. And guys like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel? Slick operators, for sure. But they don’t have the kind of existential hatred for Russia as the left-liberal crowd in the Democratic Party and their E.U. lapdogs.
DONTSTOPWAR (266,000 subscribers)
Riling up the public on the [third] anniversary of the special military operation. A bold move. From an economic standpoint, if anyone doesn’t get it, everything has been done smartly, since no empire has ever been built without compromise. The probability that the “SMO” [war in Ukraine] is over? Zero percent.
Zhivoff Z (112,500 subscribers)
Many people are again frustrated by Putin’s latest statements, where he clearly extends a “hand of friendship” to the new American administration. The hardest thing for patriots to swallow is probably stuff like: “We are not against Ukrainian statehood,” “We support peace,” [and] “We invite our American partners to participate in rare earth development.” These kinds of things are seriously messing with the patriotic community’s heads.
As I’ve said many times, Russians struggle with Byzantine-style multi-vector diplomacy and triple meanings. Especially considering that, for the past 20 years, we’ve been united by a historical example of uncompromising war until total victory. However, it’s impossible not to notice that the president has been successfully implementing Russian irredentism without ever declaring it openly. Five regions of historical Russia have already returned under the Russian flag, and now, there is an opportunity to legitimize this.
As for the sudden thaw in U.S.-Russia relations, this is pure pragmatism. Imagine you have two very dangerous enemies working together against you. Then suddenly, one of them starts pulling away and extends a hand of friendship.