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March 16, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
In addition, some reports suggested that US could toughen its stance on Russia moving forward after a number of rather symbolic declarative sanctions steps in 2018.
"I think we have hit an inflection point in the current [US] administration's approach towards Russia," an unnamed diplomat told Reuters on March 16.
"There has been a shift in balance," he added, attributing it to a clash between US-backed and Russian-backed forces in Syria, and President Vladimir Putin showing a video on March 1 of
a weapon hovering over what looked like a map of Florida, home to Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
"Those three things, taken together, have caused a shift in analysis in parts ... of the administration," said the diplomat.
Another unnamed senior administration official told Reuters that the goodwill that Trump ex- tended toward Russia in the beginning of the his
term was not seen as reciprocated, which has "exasperated Trump, who instructed his team to make sure the US appeared to be in solidarity with Britain over the nerve agent attack."
Eugene Rumer, a former US national intelligence officer for Russia, suggested to Reuters that Trump’s approach may ultimately be guided by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the president's election collusion with Russia.
“My hypothesis is ... the White House stance on Russia is going to be determined to a large extent by how much they think the investigation threat- ens their political position,” Rumer said.
On March 15 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also issued a joint report which claims that "Russian government cyber actors" targeted government entities and multiple US critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors.
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