Exiting McMaster blasts Moscow, U.S. response
WASHINGTON — Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, in his last public remarks as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, strongly denounced Russia for its increased aggression around the world and declared: “We have failed to impose sufficient costs.”
His comments come a little more than a week after he was ousted by Trump, who is replacing him with former U.N. ambassador John Bolton.
And they came hours after Trump, in a White House news conference with Baltic state leaders, stated, “Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have.”
Despite a series of recent actions taken by the Trump administration against Russia over its alleged role in poisoning a former Russian spy in Britain, interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and global cyberattacks, Trump has been criticized by Russia policy experts and Democrats for not forcefully condemning Moscow for such actions.
His outgoing national security adviser had no such qualms.
“Russia,” McMaster said, “has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies and the foundations of international peace and stability,” speaking Tuesday evening at the Atlantic Council.
“We are now engaged in a fundamental contest between our free and open societies and closed and repressive systems,” he said, alluding to Russia, among other countries. “Revisionist and repressive powers are attempting to undermine our values, our institutions and way of life.”
He spoke in the presence of the presidents of Estonia and Latvia and the foreign minister of Lithuania, who met with Trump at the White House earlier Tuesday. The summit was held to reinforce ties between the United States and the Baltic nations and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their independence following World War I.
McMaster noted that “Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have all been targeted by Russia’s so-called hybrid warfare, a pernicious form of aggression that combines political, economic, informational and cyber-assaults against sovereign nations.”
He lauded the Baltic states, which are to the west of Russia, for their role in countering acts.
He criticized Russia for employing strategies “deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target state’s threshold for military response.” Moscow’s malicious Tactics include infiltrating social media, spreading propaganda and using other forms of subversion and espionage — all without rising to the level of an armed attack that would merit a military response.
For too long, McMaster said, “some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats. Russia brazenly, and implausibly denies its actions, and we have failed to impose sufficient costs.”
Trump, for his part, was more restrained in his remarks about Russia.
“Ideally we want to get along with Russia,” he said at the news conference. “Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Maybe we will, maybe we won’t.”
With his unvarnished broadside against Moscow, McMaster becomes Trump’s second senior aide to leave the administration in a dramatic kiss-off with the Russian government.
Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, in his final interview with reporters last month, gave the most critical assessment of the Russian government of his tenure, saying U.S. efforts to work constructively with Moscow only resulted in worse Russian behavior.
“I’ve become extremely concerned about Russia,” Tillerson told reporters following a trip to Africa. “We spent most of last year investing a lot into attempts to work together, to solve problems, to address differences. And quite frankly, after a year, we didn’t get very far. Instead what we’ve seen is a pivot on their part to be more aggressive. And this is very, very concerning to me.” Bolton takes over as national security adviser Monday.