Russia's leader employs crafty tricks (5)
I believe the answer is:
ruses
'crafty tricks' is the definition.
'ruses' can be an answer for 'tricks' (a ruse is a trick or ploy). I am not sure about the 'crafty' bit.
'russia's leader employs' is the wordplay.
'leader' says to take the initial letters.
'employs' becomes 'uses' ('use' can be a synonym of 'employ').
The first letter of 'russias' is 'r'.
'r'+'uses'='RUSES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ruses that I've seen before include "Dodges" , "Clever strategems or plans" , "Tricks or deceptions" , "Tactics" , "Clever stratagems" .)