President-elect Donald Trump will keep President Barack Obama\u2019s sanctions on Russia for at least the beginning of his presidency, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Obama sanctioned elements of the Russian government for purported attempts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election in December. Trump suggested Russia could get the sanctions lifted if the country was cooperative in helping the U. S. fight terrorism, and if it was generally more amenable.
\u201cIf you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody\u2019s doing some really great things,\u201d Trump declared .
Trump has previously indicated he would like to \u201cget along with Russia.\u201d He also told reporters, \u201cRussia will have much greater respect for our country when I\u2019m leading than when other people have led it,\u201d at a Wednesday news conference.
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not respond to Obama\u2019s sanctions with reciprocal expulsion of diplomats, setting off a firestorm of speculation that Putin expected Trump to lift sanctions immediately.
Oliver Carroll, managing editor of the Moscow Times, called the decision a \u201cmasterstroke\u201d in an article Friday for Foreign Policy magazine. Carroll explained, \u201cRussia\u2019s normal response to what it considers aggressive actions from the West is to act reciprocally \u2014 and asymmetrically.\u201d
Putin\u2019s decision seemingly \u201chumiliated\u201d Obama in its non-response and set the desired tone for his relationship with the U. S. under Trump\u2019s leadership.
\u201cPutin is going out of his way to not take Obama seriously,\u201d Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, who spent decades in the CIA tracking Russia while Putin was rising in the KGB, told The New York Times. He continued that Putin \u201cis making a good-will gesture, presumably with the hope and expectation that Donald Trump will respond in kind.\u201d
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