Thread: Russians disheartened by Trump as his love affair with Putin fizzles

Russians disheartened by Trump as his love affair with Putin fizzles

Anna Arutunyan, Special for USA TODAY
Published 2:49 p.m. ET March 3, 2017 | Updated 25 minutes ago

MOSCOW — Russian politicians enamored with President Trump's talk of improved relations with Moscow last fall are already disillusioned that he's reversed course because of investigations into Russian meddling in the U.S. election.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said he was surprised Trump started “receding” from his earlier pro-Russian rhetoric about closer cooperation. “Even in the way he talks you can now hear notes of Obama,” he said. “And you can hear in his address (to Congress Tuesday): the military budget will be increased by over $50 billion.”

“We have to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,” Sergei Mironov, head of the Just Russia party told a parliamentary round table on foreign policy this week. “The sooner Trump understands that world history is governed by laws and not business schemes, that there are values that are not measured in dollars, the better for Russian-American relations.”

Their disappointment follows a tougher line on Russia from Trump’s White House. Last month, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump expected Russia to return Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014. That is at odds with comments Trump made during the campaign, when he suggested Russia should keep Crimea and that U.S. sanctions imposed after its seizure be lifted.

The Kremlin rejected any intention of returning Crimea. Shortly after, state-run media suddenly stopped its pro-Trump coverage.

In the United States, anti-Russian sentiment has been growing in Congress over intelligence allegations that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered cyberattacks aimed at helping elect Trump, charges both the Kremlin and Trump deny.

Still, the FBI is investigating contacts between Russians and Trump officials before and after the election, and the scandal already has forced Trump to fire his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, over contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.

The allegations prompted Trump to acknowledge at a news conference last month that he probably can't do business with Russia now because of the political climate.

Some Russians are skeptical of a Kremlin plot to elect Trump. "Whatever silly thing the president does raises the possibility of a Russia connection," said Alina Lobzina, a freelance news producer, who urged Americans to stop blaming Russia. "Seriously, from across the ocean it looks like a House of Cards episode, and not the best one."

Breaking with his earlier praise of Russia and Putin, Trump did not mention either in Tuesday night's speech to Congress.

“There was an atmosphere of positive expectations” in the Kremlin, said Konstantin von Eggert, a political commentator with Russia’s independent Dozhd TV station. Now the relationship between the two countries is "toxic," he said.

"The Kremlin is realizing that maybe the best outcome would be to maintain the current level of tensions between Russia and America rather than having something worse,” he said.

The latest sign of U.S. tensions about Russia came Thursday, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the election-meddling probe because he had met with the Russian ambassador twice last year, when he was a senator and Trump campaign adviser, but failed to disclose at his confirmation hearing when asked about contacts with Russians. Sessions said the meetings were innocuous and the election never came up.

Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday that he agreed with Trump that the examination of innocent contacts with Russia amounted to a “witch hunt.”

Peskov said on Wednesday that he saw nothing wrong with Trump’s failure to mention Russia in his hour-long address to Congress. “We have patience. We will wait until Trump’s statements are backed up by some action that will allow us to understand what we can expect in terms of bilateral Russian-American relations,” he said.

Alexei Makarkin, deputy head of the Center for Political Technologies, said Russian officials' expectations about Trump are becoming more realistic.

“There was a sense in the beginning that Trump is our kind of guy, that he will come in and solve everything," he said. "But these sentiments did not take into account the nature of the American political system and the character of the new president, who really does not intend to be Russia’s ally."

"Everything will depend on whether they are able to reach an agreement on specific issues, like Ukraine or Syria."

Trump walks with grandchildren Arabella Kushner and Joseph Kushner, holding a model of Marine One, across the South Lawn of the White House on March 3, 2017, before boarding Marine One helicopter for the short flight to nearby Andrews Air Force Base. Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...rump/98693256/

That's sad, even tragic in many ways. The Russian people deserve better from US. In my opinion, they always have. 27 million Russians died in WWII, yet they refused financial assistance from the US following the war, went it alone, on their own, the same for all the countries aligned with them in their sphere as things were set up after the War. They were the only nation to refuse assistance.

No nation suffered as much loss in human life as Russia in WWII. We could have never won that war without them. In fact, we would have never even fought it without them. Americans have no concept of what the human loss is from these horrible wars that other countries endure and somehow overcome. No idea at all. It's all beyond the comprehension of our own experience. It's why our WWII veterans came home and refused to talk about it, and I believe it's why they didn't want a WWII Memorial. It's also why Russia is and has always been our friend, because we ended the War that was killing their country and people. It's why we have The Permanents in the United Nations, United States, Great Britain, France, Russia and China. It's why there is a United Nations, to end all wars.

But no one talks about Russia and World War II. People talk about the 120,000 Japanese Americans interned safely in the camps here during the war. People talk about the 246,000 civilians killed in Japan when we dropped the nuclear bombs. People talk about the 6 million Jews killed by the Germans. But no one talks about the 27 million Russians.

Why is that? Isn't that odd? It just strikes me a so odd. "Evil Empire"? Hardly. They are anything but such a thing.

I hope Russians see what is going on here for what it is, just domestic politics in need of a scapegoat. Give our new Administration some time to get up and running, get things in motion for our own country, and I'm sure our new President has not changed his own mind or his goals to have a new and improved relationship with Russia.

Many Americans are hoping for this new day with our Forgotten Ally.

Their disappointment follows a tougher line on Russia from Trump’s White House. Last month, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump expected Russia to return Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014. That is at odds with comments Trump made during the campaign, when he suggested Russia should keep Crimea and that U.S. sanctions imposed after its seizure be lifted.

I guess illegal immigration isn't the only issue Trump has been inconsistent on.