That is one of the central questions raised by Guardian foreign correspondent and former Moscow correspondent Luke Harding in his new book, Betrayal: Trump, Putin and the New Age of Conquest.
In the latest episode of The Security Podcast, I talk to Luke about Donald Trump's extraordinary relationship with Vladimir Putin, America's changing approach to Ukraine and why successive Western leaders have struggled to understand the man in the Kremlin.
We discuss Trump's belief that his personal relationship with Putin could bring the war to an end, why the Russian leader has shown so little willingness to compromise, and what all of this means for Ukraine.
And then there is perhaps the most provocative question in the book: could Donald Trump be a Russian asset?
Is Trump's approach to Putin simply explained by his admiration for powerful authoritarian leaders, or could there be something more troubling behind it? Harding poses a striking question: if Trump were a Russian asset, what exactly would he be doing differently?
We also discuss what Harding describes as a new age of conquest — a world in which powerful states increasingly believe that borders can once again be changed by force.
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