Vladimir Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev has suggested that the outcome of the US presidential election would serve Russia’s interests in its large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Medvedev served as president between 2008 and 2012 and is now vice-chairman of the Russian Security Council. Over the course of the war in Ukraine, he has stoked anti-Western rhetoric, often issuing threats to Kiev’s allies over Moscow’s nuclear capabilities.

Around the time of Trump’s victory speech early Tuesday morning, Medvedev posted on Telegram his reaction to election night.

Without directly congratulating the Republican candidate, Medvedev referred to the fact that there was an “angering bipartisan anti-Russian consensus on Capitol Hill.”

“But Trump has one trait that is useful to us: as a businessman at heart, he hates spending money on… idiotic allies, stupid charities and greedy international organizations,” he said, apparently referring to the global support for Ukraine.

Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

Kremlin propagandists have defended Trump as Russia’s preferred candidate given his comments on ending the war in Ukraine and his aversion to continued US aid to Kiev to combat Russian aggression.

However, the tone of Medvedev’s comments refrained from such triumphalism, suggesting that difficulties could still arise.

“The question is how much Trump will have to give to the war – he is stubborn, but the system is stronger,” Medvedev added in the post, which included a GIF image of the Republican.

Trump’s expected victory brings uncertainty to Ukraine’s war effort, given Kiev’s dependence on U.S. military aid and the Republican candidate’s complicated history with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The impeachment proceedings against Trump centered on a 2019 phone call in which then-President Trump allegedly pressured Zelensky to investigate his political rivals by withholding military aid.

On Tuesday morning, Zelensky acknowledged the Republican’s success on election night, posting on X: “Congratulations to Donald Trump on his impressive election victory!”

Zelensky referred to the pair’s meeting in September “where we discussed in detail the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the US, the Victory Plan and ways to end Russian aggression against Ukraine.”

“I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the ‘peace through strength’ approach in global affairs,” Zelensky said, adding that this idea “can practically bring a just peace in Ukraine closer.”

During that meeting, Trump touted his relationship with both Zelensky and Putin. Trump then publicly blamed Zelensky and President Joe Biden for the war, without naming the Russian president.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was not aware of plans for Putin to congratulate Trump. “Let us not forget that we are talking about an unfriendly country that is both directly and indirectly involved in the war against our state,” he told state media.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian official who chairs his country’s public chamber committee on sovereignty, told Russia’s state news agency RIA that “panic and a search for options to please Trump and gain his support are currently prevalent in Zelensky’s entourage.”

“All this is necessary so that weapons and money go to the post-Ukrainian space controlled by Zelensky in the same quantity as before,” he added.