One of the key political news of the last few weeks is an unexpected turn in President Trump's rhetoric. He says that the USA is not going to cancel the anti-Russian sanctions unless Russia gives the Crimea back to Ukraine and starts deescalating the conflict in Donbass. This statement seems to be the opposite one to those he made previously when saying he wanted to make friends with Putting if possible. This statement was made by Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary and Communications Director for U.S. President Donald Trump.
According to President of the Committee for International Affairs under the Russian Duma, this was like a cold shower for Moscow. This cold shower has cooled the hot heads from the Kremlin thinking high of Donald Trump and seeing him as Russia’s friends.
At the same time, observers remind us that back in July 2016, during his election campaign, Donald Trump promised to devote special attention to the Crimea issue if elected the U.S. President. Shortly after he became President Elect, he promised several times to consider the possibility of canceling the sanction against Russia without specifying the conditions. That was the time when the Kremlin started thinking that Trump was loyal to Russia and was expecting tighter and friendlier relations between Moscow and Washington.
Some international observers think that the White House’s policy announced by Sean Spicer the other day testifies to the fact that Donald Trump is also capable of changing his mind when it comes to election pledges. If during the first days of Trump’s presidency, Russia was fairly optimistic about his loyalty to Putin, today it seems to be that the Kremlin will have to get realistic and avoid those ambitious expectations related to the USA.
And even despite the fact that Donald Trump seems to be sharing the standpoint that the annexation of the Crimea was against the international law, the experts do not expect him to turn his back on Russia regarding other important political issues. They say Trump’s current policies are nothing new since they also served as the basis for Obama’s administration as well.
What do sanctions mean to Trump – necessity or just a means of making better deals?
If at any time in the future Donald Trump wants to ease the official politics concerning Russia, he will have to cancel or at least ease those anti-Russian sanctions. The Congress may well create a law to prevent the President to cancel those sanctions at any time without the Congress’s consent. Anyway, experts believe that President Trump is unlikely to ease or cancel those sanctions since the USA promised to back the integrity of European countries, including Europe, with sanctions being a means of demonstrating this commitment.
Others say that while Washington may cancel some sanctions in theory, those sanctions related to the Crimea will remain intact since even if Trump thinks about it, this is still a good means to make better deals. And who would agree to abandon such a means without starting the talks?
Another important fact to keep in mind while considering the US-Russia relations is Trump’s decision to dismiss Michael Flynn, who used to advocate a more loyal attitude to Russia. Experts say that this may well hint that from now on, all of the decisions related to Russia will be made by Donald Trump himself since he is probably the only one being aware of the real price of any Russia-related decisions, and in some cases the price may be rather high.
