A Russian opposition leader has given his take on the relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. The two Presidents are scheduled to hold a phone call on Tuesday to discuss plans for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Many Western politicians have been left dismayed by Trump’s approach to the peace talks, fearing he is preparing to sell out Ukraine in exchange for a rapid deal with the Kremlin tyrant. Some have said that the US President has spouted Kremlin narratives about the war and President Zelensky. Leaders and security experts have also been baffled by Trump’s high-regard for the Russian despot.

While he has never publicly criticised Putin, Trump has often launched vicious attacks on the Ukrainian President, calling him a dictator and appearing to blame him for starting the war.

In the now infamous White House confrontation, the US President accused Zelensky of being unprepared for peace and risking igniting World War 3.

Ilya Ponomarev told the Express that Trump and Putin are essentially “birds of a feather” and that the Russian leader genuinely respects his American counterpart.

“They are very close to each other. It’s just that they are not friends,” he explained.

“Putin respects Trump as a bully of a higher calibre. I think that Trump is a heavyweight for Putin. And Putin is ready to serve Trump, because he knows Trump is there for another three and a half years, while he can stay in the house another ten years.”

He added: “It’s just that he thinks that Trump is easy to manipulate because it’s so easy to appease him. Putin has a lot of respect for people with money and with power and with balls. And Trump obviously has all this.”

Ponomarev is part of an opposition group of former Russian MPs and local councillors trying to overthrow the Putin regime. Together they have formed a parliament in exile known as the Congress of People’s Deputies.

He and his team have for over a year been building bridges to Trump’s administration, holding regular talks with Mike Waltz. Ponomarev said that Trump and his key advisors had been unduly influenced in their views of Zelensky by Russian propaganda.

“They are really convinced between themselves that Zelensky is corrupt… that he is personally stealing money, that he is buying some villas in Europe and that his wife is driving some four million dollar car.

“You know, that’s all this propaganda which was distributed in the conservative media and it was very much fuelled by Russia.”

He also claims that Zelensky had been warned by Trump’s team not to arrange a White House meeting with the US President, but that the Ukrainian leader had nevertheless insisted on the summit.

“They were really, really pissed off with Zelensky because he insisted on coming to the White House while they told him that he shouldn’t do it, more or less understanding what would happen.

“This deal on the natural resources could have been signed online. It did not require their personal meeting, but it was Zelensky who insisted because he was focused no matter what to meet with Trump.”