US, Russia in ‘frequent contact’
>> WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser and Russia’s ambassador to the US have been in frequent contact in recent weeks, including on the day the Obama administration hit Moscow with sanctions in retaliation for election-related hacking, a senior US official says.
After initially denying that Michael Flynn and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak spoke on Dec 29, a Trump official said late on Friday the transition team was aware of one call on the day President Barack Obama imposed sanctions.
It’s not unusual for incoming administrations to have discussions with foreign governments before taking office. But repeated contacts just as Mr Obama imposed sanctions would raise questions about whether Mr Trump’s team discussed — or even helped shape — Russia’s response.
Russian President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly did not retaliate against the US for the move, a decision Mr Trump quickly praised.
More broadly, Mr Flynn’s contact with the Russian ambassador suggests the incoming administration has already begun to lay the groundwork for its promised closer relationship with Moscow. That effort appears to be moving ahead, even as many in Washington, including Republicans, have expressed outrage over intelligence officials’ assessment that Mr Putin launched a hacking operation aimed at meddling in the US election to benefit Mr Trump.
In an interview published on Friday evening by The Wall Street Journal, Mr Trump said he might do away with Mr Obama’s sanctions if Russia works with the US on battling terrorists and achieving other goals.
“If Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions?” he asked.
He also said he was prepared to meet with Mr Putin after taking office on Friday.
Turning to the longstanding US practice of not recognising Taiwan diplomatically, Mr Trump said: “Everything is under negotiation, including One China.”
Mr Trump has already irked China by accepting a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen after he won the election, upending decades of diplomatic precedent in which the White House has foregone direct communication with the island’s leader.
He defended that move in his interview with the Journal, saying: “We sold them $2 billion of military equipment last year. We can sell them $2 billion of the latest and greatest military equipment but we’re not allowed to accept a phone call. First of all, it would have been very rude not to accept the phone call.”
Questions about Mr Trump’s friendly posture toward Russia have deepened since the election, as he has dismissed US intelligence agencies’ assertions about Russia’s role in the hacking of Democratic groups. In briefing Mr Trump on their findings, intelligence officials also presented the president-elect with unsubstantiated claims that Russia had amassed compromising personal and financial allegations about him, according to a separate US official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Senate Intelligence Committee announced late on Friday that it would investigate possible contacts between Russia and people associated with US political campaigns as part of a broader investigation into Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Mr Trump acknowledged for the first time this week that he accepts Russia was behind the hacking. But he questioned whether officials were leaking information about their meetings with him, warning that would be a “tremendous blot” on their record.
Mr Flynn’s own ties with Russia have worried some Republicans who are more sceptical of the Kremlin than Mr Trump appears to be.
After leaving his position as director of the Defence Intelligence Agency in 2014, Mr Flynn made appearances on RT, a staterun Russian television network. In 2015, he was paid to attend an RT gala in Moscow, where he sat next to Mr Putin.
As national security adviser, Mr Flynn will work in the West Wing close to the Oval Office and will have frequent access to Mr Trump. Unlike Mr Trump’s nominees to lead the Pentagon, State Department and other national security agencies, Mr Flynn’s post does not require Senate confirmation.
Mr Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador were first reported by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.
A US official described the contacts between Mr Flynn and Mr Kislyak as “very frequent”.
It’s unclear how US officials became aware of the contacts between Mr Flynn and Mr Kislyak, who has served as Russia’s envoy to the US since 2008.
US monitoring of Russian officials’ communication within the United States is known to be common.