THE KNYAZ AT THE KHAN’S COURT: A HISTORICAL PARALLEL
16.08.2025
History often echoes itself. In the 13th–15th centuries, Russian knyazes traveled to Karakorum and later to Sarai to bow before the Khans of the Mongol Empire and the Golden Horde. These humiliating visits, staged with pomp and ceremony, were about reaffirming vassalage and receiving the «yarlyk», a license to rule.
Between 1242 and 1445, historical records show that 99 knyazes and three princesses made 249 such journeys. The peak came in the 1330s–1340s, under Khan Uzbek and Khan Janibek, when even executions of Russian rulers by Khan’s decree were not uncommon.
Centuries later, history replayed itself in Anchorage. Donald Trump assumed the role of the Khan, while Vladimir Putin played the Knyaz.
For Putin, the meeting delivered exactly what medieval knyazes once sought: legitimacy. He returned home with symbolic honors, the image of breaking diplomatic isolation, and, in effect, a free pass for further aggression and plunder. For his domestic audience, the signal was clear: the Knyaz has been recognized by the Khan, and now he can act with impunity.
For the international community, another message was unmistakable: if the Khan smiles and shakes the Knyaz’s hand, then sanctions, war crimes indictments, child abductions, and isolation cease to matter.
Yet while Putin left with a symbolic victory, Trump emerged with nothing. No agreements, no concessions, not even the shadow of the “deal of the century” he had once promised. His only “achievement” was the spectacle itself: look, even Putin counts on me. For any other American president, that would have been a humiliation.
Trump’s vanity underscored his weakness. His smiles and handshakes with Putin contrasted sharply with his dismissive treatment of U.S. allies who are fighting for their survival. Those resisting aggression were lectured and scolded, while the aggressor under heavy sanctions was showered with respect.
This scene laid bare a troubling truth: in Trump’s politics, there is no morality, no justice, no strategy and no recognition of the necessity of supporting Ukraine. The most dangerous lesson of Anchorage is that, for Trump, Ukraine simply does not matter.
What the world saw was not diplomacy, but a stage-managed PR performance. Putin returned from Alaska with a symbolic victory, while Trump will be remembered as the Khan who handed his Knyaz a license for more war, plunder, and terror.
Democracy is dead. And even the Nobel Prize has slipped away.