According to experts, Vladimir Putin has experienced a significant setback this week due to strategic maneuvers by Donald Trump. The Republican president has initiated a series of impactful geopolitical actions, leaving the Russian leader in a precarious position.

Since the year began, the United States has demonstrated its global influence, notably with the apprehension of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s leader who is closely allied with Putin, along with his spouse.

On Wednesday, US forces audaciously boarded the Marinera, a tanker believed to be part of a covert Russian fleet, despite the presence of Putin’s navy and his government’s plea for non-intervention.

In the aftermath, Trump claimed that Russian ships retreated as soon as the American forces appeared, underscoring his growing assertiveness in displaying US power on the international front.

Furthermore, Trump has rekindled controversy over his ambition to acquire Greenland—a territory of NATO ally Denmark, which is also an EU member—an area of interest for both Russia and China due to its abundant untapped resources.

Analysts suggest that these displays of military and strategic strength may have left Putin embarrassed, as he continues to exert his influence on the global stage while his military operations progress in Ukraine.

Dr Neil Melvin, director of International Security for RUSI, told the Daily Mail that these actions have ‘put Putin in a corner’, amid US-negotiated peace negotiations with Ukraine. 

Donald Trump has put Vladimir Putin (pictured) ‘in a corner’ by taking Venezuela’s leader prisoner and storming a Russian oil tanker this week, experts have said

Nicolas Maduro is seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, escorted by heavily armed Federal agents as they make their way into an armored car en route to a Federal courthouse in Manhattan on January 5, 2026 in New York City

Donald Trump (pictured) has reignited a furore over his desire to annex Greenland

Pictures in Russian media purportedly showed helicopters approaching the vessel today

He said: ‘[Putin] does not want to upset Trump by criticising him as the Kremlin is trying to keep on good relations with the White House so that the Ukraine peace negotiations are dragged out as long as possible and pressure is not placed on Russia to reach an agreement.

With respect to the storming of the Marinera, Melvin said: ‘While Russia is likely to protest the actions and demand the release of Russians in the crew, the Kremlin will have to suck up any sense of humiliation to avoid angering Trump.’ 

Professor Matthew Sussex, of the Australia National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, agreed, telling Sky News Australia: ‘Absent complaints in terms of violations of international law, I don’t think Putin really has too much he can do. 

‘In terms of how this plays out in Ukraine, it depends very on whether the US is gonna start seizing other tankers. There are a lot of them that are transiting the world, selling Russian oil to dodge sanctions.’ 

He warned that Putin may behave like a cornered rat, forced to either bow down to higher powers or aggressively lash out.  

‘If that happens, then Putin will probably calculate that the impact on the Russian economy will be such that he needs to accelerate his campaign in Ukraine’, he said. 

The storming of the Marinera came swiftly on the heels of Saturday’s capture of Maduro. 

The socialist leader has long relied on Russia, as well as China, as a geopolitical partner. 

But his capture may diminish Russia’s standing with its allies, who may not see the Kremlin as being capable or willing to protect them. 

In a post on X, they said the ‘vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court after being tracked by USCGC Munro’

Russia dispatched navy assets to protect the sanctioned oil tanker as it crossed the Atlantic, amid mounting threats from the US to seize the vessel

Footage posted by Russian television network RT purports to show a US Coast Guard cutter chasing the Russian-flagged oil tanker

An explosion rocks Caracas in the early hours of Saturday morning during a US military operation which resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro  

Melvin told the Mail: ‘The Kremlin will worry about what the growing US appetite to intervene around the world will mean for Russia’s international standing. 

‘In the last year, Russia has seen its position in Syria weaken following the fall of its pro-Moscow leader Assad, its ally Iran has been bombed by the US and now faces popular unrest. 

‘Trump has also helped pull another former Kremlin ally – Yerevan in the South Caucasus – away from Russia by offering to backstop the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace efforts, and now Venezuela has fallen’.

Tatiana Kastouéva-Jean, director of the Russia-Eurasia Center at IFRI, the French Institute of International Relations, told Le Monde: ‘In just a few days, Putin has suffered a double humiliation’.

She said that the Kremlin may have to recalculate Russia’s position on the world stage, in light of Maduro’s capture and the storming of the Marinera.  

‘At the top of the Russian state, there is probably a feverish period of reflection underway. 

‘Mr. Putin always prefers to take his time to calibrate his response. After what happened in Venezuela, he has lost the privilege and exclusivity of strategic surprise. 

‘He is no longer the only one employing the “madman strategy,” which should prompt him to act with caution.’ 

Carl Bildt, the co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations and the former PM and foreign minister of Sweden, aligned with Kastouéva-Jean’s analysis, writing on X: ‘By now, Putin is profoundly humiliated by the fall of the one satellite regime after the other, and also his inability to protect ships he had taken under its protection’.  

American forces captured a separate ‘dark fleet’ tanker called the M/T Sophia

Another embarrassment that Russia faces is the fact that the US now appears to be actively targeting vessels in the Kremlin’s shadow fleet, one of its primary tools in building wealth by selling sanctioned oil across the world.  

Estimated to include up to 1,000 ships, which frequently change their flags and whose ownership is unclear, Russia’s shadow fleet has enabled Moscow to keep exporting its crude oil for much-needed revenue despite curbs on exports.

Experts and several European leaders also believe some vessels have been used by Russia to conduct hybrid warfare across the continent. 

Professor Sussex said of the Marinera: ‘This is a tanker that has long been a problem for the West in terms of running all sorts of things, from oil to guns, to Iran and behalf of Hezbollah. 

‘It’s been under sanctions since 2024. It’s only in the last month that it’s emerged as a Russia-flagged tanker. What Moscow was trying to do was say: “Well, if we put the shadow fleets that put Russian and Venezuelan oil under Russian control, then the US won’t board them”. And that clearly is not the case.

He added: ‘The success of the shadow tankers has been quite significant in dodging sanctions. The Russians have been ramping up oil sales to China and India in order to make up the difference of the West getting out of buying Russian oil. 

‘It has been effective in driving the Russian economy, and contributing to the gains it has been making in Ukraine.’

Dr. Melvin agreed with this analysis, additionally telling the Mail: ‘Russia will likely have to adjust its overall approach to shadow fleet operations. Since western actions targeted ships operating to circumvent sanctions on Russia, the number of ships in the shadow fleet have doubled. 

Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad as they make their way to a Federal courthouse in Manhattan on January 5, 2026

‘Russia relies on these tankers to sell its oil around the world and to provide the financing to fund its war in Ukraine. Now Russia will need to try to minimise the exposure of its shadow fleet to future actions by limiting their routes and it will no longer be straightforward to use Venezuela as a cover for such options’.

Trump’s threats to annex Greenland are also likely to worry Russia, given its interests in the Arctic.

Amid rising global temperatures, there are vast and as-yet-untapped resources in the Arctic region that are becoming more accessible each year. 

On top of this, melting icecaps are resulting in new trade routes that could better connect a superpower to its financial partners across the world. 

The Arctic has massive deposits of oil and natural gas, as well as highly sought after minerals like nickel, platinum, palladium and rare earth metals that lie just beneath the ocean floor and the northernmost regions of the countries surrounding it. 

it is estimated that 16% of the world’s untapped oil and a whopping 30% of the world’s undiscovered natural gas lie under the oceans of the Arctic. 

On top of this, there are countless fish that live in the plankton-rich waters that superpowers will need to feed their populations. 

In recent years, Russia has reopened more than 50 ex-Soviet military installations in the north. 

Dozens of radar stations have been upgrades, search and rescue outposts have been set up and border posts have been revamped. 

It remains to be seen whether Russia continues to invest heavily in the Arctic circle, especially in light of the US’ new domineering stance on the world stage which is perhaps best summed up by Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff.

‘We’re a superpower. And under President Trump, we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower.’