Trump faces backlash from Kremlin bots after Putin criticism

    
• Pro-Kremlin bots: After Donald Trump's criticism of Vladimir Putin, bots associated with the Kremlin started targeting the American president on social media.
• Change in tone: Analysts from the Botnadzor project noticed that comments previously neutral about Trump took a more critical turn.
• Kremlin's reaction: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described Trump's words as a sign of "emotional overload."

On Sunday, after a Russian drone attack on Ukraine, Donald Trump criticised Vladimir Putin, calling him "insane." The US President posted on his social media channel, Truth Social, that the Russian leader had completely lost it. In response, pro-Kremlin bots on social media started attacking Trump.

One of the bots wrote that it's not Putin who's insane, it's Trump. It seems to be hereditary for all US presidents - a chair and dementia as a gift. Another referred to Trump as a "clown".

The change in tone in the comments was noted by analysts from the Botnadzor project, who monitor the activity of trolls in Russia.

Independent Russian media, such as Novaya Gazeta.Europe, observed that pro-Kremlin media remained silent on Trump's criticism of Putin but focused on his comments about Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov regarded Trump's remarks as a sign of "emotional overload at a crucial moment".

Accounts on the VK platform, which operate in the interests of the Kremlin, initially wrote about Trump in a neutral manner. However, following his criticism of Putin, the tone of comments altered. On Monday, pro-Kremlin bots published about a thousand comments on over 150 posts mentioning Trump's name. This illustrates how quickly and aggressively they can react to criticism from foreign leaders.