Political pundit Jake Broe, a former U.S. Air Force nuclear and missile operations officer, shared a photo of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the White House for a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky and said Hegseth was “wearing a Russian tricolor flag tie.”
Vice President JD Vance replied on Saturday, “Or maybe he was wearing the colors of America.”
Or maybe he was wearing the colors of America https://t.co/K1zNmVIAA5
— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 18, 2025
Kirill Dmitriev, Special Envoy of Russian president Vladimir Putin, and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (a sovereign wealth fund created by the Russian government to co-invest in the Russian economy), is amplifying the image of Hegseth on X with an emoji of the Russian Federation flag.
The original!
pic.twitter.com/nPS8Gq6FwT
— László Kovács (@LszlKovcs159757) October 18, 2025
Investigative journalist Christo Grozev — who is reportedly on the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry’s “wanted” list — reposted Dmitriev’s post and added: “Russia burning its asset.”
Tom Nichols, retired professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, replied to Grozev: “The thing is, no Russia asset would be this stupidly open about it. ‘Too obvious a troll even for the Russians’ is not something I thought I would ever say about U.S. SECDEF, but here we are.”
When former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul today shared the Financial Times article titled, “Trump Urged Zelenskyy to Accept Putin’s Terms or Be ‘Destroyed’ by Russia,” and added “not good,” Nichols agreed and replied, “Trump, once again, taking Russia’s position.”
Trump, once again, taking Russia’s position https://t.co/IoeUKnzZUS
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 19, 2025