Trump thanks Putin for slashing diplomatic staff, cites cost-cutting

Washington, Aug. 11: US President Donald Trump on Thursday thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the United States to slash its diplomatic staff in Russia, remarks likely to rekindle criticism of Mr Trump’s kid-gloves handling of Mr Putin.

Breaking nearly two weeks of silence on Mr Putin’s July 30 order cutting US embassy and consulate staff by nearly two thirds, Mr Trump said: “I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll.”

Russia had expelled more than 700 US diplomats in July.

Trump said “there’s no real reason for them to go back” and “we’re going to save a lot of money,” in response to Putin’s Cold War-style move, differing from the reactions of other presidents in similar circumstances in the past.

It also clashes with a State Department official having called Moscow’s order “a regrettable and uncalled-for act.”

If he was joking, he should know better. If he wasn’t, it’s unprecedented. A President has never defended expulsion of diplomats Nicholas

Burns, Former state dept official

On Thursday, the state department had no immediate reaction to the comments Mr Trump made to reporters while on vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Intended to be flippant or not, Mr Trump’s remarks on Thursday were immediately denounced by current and former US officials who have served both Republican and Democratic administrations.

Nicholas Burns, the state department’s thirdranking official under Republican President George W. Bush, called Trump’s comments “grotesque.”

“If he was joking, he should know better,” said Burns, now a professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “If he wasn’t, it’s unprecedented. A President has never defended the expulsion of our diplomats.”The state department has “horrified and rattled” by Trump’s remarks, said a veteran US diplomat who has served in Russia, speaking on condition of anonymity.