Putin is anxious under Trump’s influence, says Igor Eidman.

Putin is already starting to fidget under Trump: he flatters him, plays along with Trump's paranoia about the "stolen election victory," and tries to shift the responsibility for his own unwillingness to negotiate with Ukraine onto Zelensky (claiming that it’s not us, but they who have legally prohibited negotiations).

This indicates that even Trump's currently rather empty threats have frightened Putin (Russian exports to the U.S. are already relatively small, and raising tariffs on them would be utterly pointless). One can only imagine what would happen with the cowardly Russian dictator if Trump threatened him with something genuinely dangerous.

Trump has a tool that could force Putin to make concessions. It’s the supply of modern missiles capable of reaching the Russian dictator and his inner circle. For Putin, the top priority is his own security. He, like all his elite, is most concerned about their own skin — that is his vulnerability, and that is where he needs to be hit.

With American Tomahawks, Ukrainians could genuinely threaten the life of the dictator and his entourage, for instance, by attempting to target Putin in one of his residences. Assume he once again hides in a bunker. However, the entire leadership of the country cannot hide in bunkers. There would be an attack on Putin's centers of power. This is not a mythical Oreshnik. The Americans have plenty of Tomahawks, and they are effective. They could intimidate and create chaos in the Kremlin. It’s likely that even just the threat of supplying Tomahawks in significant quantities would immediately make Putin more amenable.

Could Trump go for this? He might, if he realizes that this way he could be seen as a "great peacemaker," forcing Putin to stop the war. Who would explain this to him?