Russia hopeful for better ties
MOSCOW — Russia is hopeful a Trump presidency will herald improved relations with the United States. But, in a sign of the cold realism that Russian President Vladimir Putin is known for, Moscow is not betting on an immediate drastic turnaround in the strained relationship.
While Trump himself has said he wants to be friends with Russia and join forces in the fight against terrorism, he has outlined few specifics as to how he would go about it. President Barack Obama began his presidency with a similar goal, only to see progress unravel over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told The Associated Press in an interview in New York that Russian experts had contacts with people in both the Trump and Clinton campaigns. He said such contacts are “quite natural, quite normal.”
“And our experts, our specialists on the U.S., on international affairs … Of course they are constantly speaking to their counterparts here, including those from Mr. Trump’s group,” Peskov said.
“Of course, it’s quite natural that Russian experts are trying to maintain the dialogue with people from different camps. It’s very important to understand the main- streams, and understand the main tendencies, nuances and the positioning of different parties, different camps here in the United States,” he said.
Peskov said Russia has “a very good relationship” with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and relationships with some academics and U.S.-Russia experts involved in foreign policy, which he also called “normal.” Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as telling the Interfax news agency that “there were contacts” with influential people in Trump’s circle. “I don’t say that all of them, but a whole array of them supported contacts with Russian representatives.”
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks denied such contacts.
“It never happened,” she said. “There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.”