New Secretary of the Treasury Says No to Canceling Sanctions against Russia

Even despite the fact that Donald trump unexpectedly become the 45^th President of the United States, and he seems to be more loyal to Russia than any U.S. leader over the last couple of decades, Russia has still been failing to find a common language with the USA.

Donald Trump started his presidency with unpopular decisions. Some of his policies are not welcomed by politicians from both parties, not to mention mass media, secret services and millions of U.S. citizens. Maybe Putin was hoping that Trump would start helping Russia implementing its imperial ambitions despite the public discontent in the USA. But those hopes now seem to be broken. The sanctions will stay effective until Russia gives the Crimea back to Ukraine. That’s the standpoint put forward by Trump’s administration.

At the same time one by one, hi-ranking politicians from Washington, including some Republicans, are talking about extending the sanctions imposed on Russia. Even though this is something irritating for Putin, that cannot be called an unexpected scenario. While Russia was still laying some hopes that the situation could improve later, now that the new Secretary of the Treasury says no to canceling those sanctions, the situation looks different to Russia.  

Several members of Trump’s administration also hinted that the USA was not going to change anything related the situation with the anti-Russian sanctions. Moreover, the EU is advocating the idea of expanding the sanctions because Russia is said to be escalating the conflict in Donbass. The majority of EU parliamentarians voted for this decision. However, everything mentioned before is nothing compared to the shock Russia felt after Donald Trump finally made himself clear on the Crimea issue. He assumes that the Crimea should go back to Ukraine. On top of that, Russia should stop escalating the Donbass conflict. Those are the key conditions for the USA to start considering any changes to the sanctions.

This seems to have come as a shock to the Kremlin since no comments followed Trump’s statement. Did Russia really think that Trump would go against his country and people?