“Kremlin’s elected puppet? Tosh!” US president initially maintained (4,2)

I believe the answer is:

kept up

'maintained' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'kremlin's elected puppet? tosh us president initially' is the wordplay.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letters of 'kremlins elected puppet tosh us president' is 'KEPT UP'.

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.

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