US-Russia ties on rollercoaster ride
Helsinki reaction underscores difficulty in easing enmity
When US President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, for their first summit, many believed it might help ease the deeply strained bilateral relations.
However, the drama unfolding since the July 16 summit has shown that improving the relationship is no easy job even for unorthodox Trump, who has expressed his admiration for Putin since he took office in 2016.
Trump set off a firestorm across the US when he countered the US intelligence report about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. When asked about the alleged meddling at a joint news conference with Putin after the summit, Trump said that “I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia; I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
The words came three days after the US Justice Department announced the indictments of 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking into Democratic National Committee emails. Back home, both Republicans and Democrats voiced their outrage at Trump’s comment, with some calling him “treasonous”.
With the mounting pressure, Trump said in the White House the following day that he misspoke at the summit. “The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t, or why it wouldn’t be Russia” instead of “why it would”, he said, adding that he accepts the US intelligence community’s conclusion on Russian meddling.
Trump, who has been criticized for having no foreign policy experience, was eager to score on the Russia front following his successful June 12 summit in Singapore with Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The White House announced on July 19 that Trump had invited Putin to visit Washington in the fall. That again drew sharp criticism from both parties.
The concern among Republican lawmakers is that the strong backlash at home about Trump’s coziness with Putin will put them at a disadvantage against Democratic rivals in the midterm election only 10 weeks away.
The White House backed off on July 25, saying that Putin won’t come until next year. National Security Adviser John Bolton said that Trump decided meeting with Putin should not take place until “after the Russia witch hunt is over”.
Moscow has not shown enthusiasm for a second summit in Washington. Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said on July 24 that it might be better for the “dust to settle before having a businesslike discussion” between Trump and Putin given the current “atmosphere” in Washington.
“Given the extent of the hysteria and Russophobia in the United States, it will be difficult, perhaps even impossible, for Trump to reverse the dangerous deterioration in US-Russian relations, despite his efforts at the summit,” said Ted Carpenter, a senior fellow of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute in Washington.
“That situation does not improve prospects for global peace.”
Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council in the Obama administration, echoed the view.
However, he believes the two countries could still find some common ground on issues in Syria, Ukraine and arms control.
“Many Americans, including members of Congress, remain highly skeptical of Russia’s intentions, decreasing Trump’s room for maneuver. Nonetheless, even limited cooperative initiatives, if they are forthcoming, would be a useful start to decreasing tension between Russia and the United States,” Kupchan said.
Many Americans ... remain highly skeptical of Russia’s intentions.” Charles Kupchan, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations