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UP FRONTSaturday 4 March 2017
Russia says US infighting on Sessions hampers mending ties
V. ISACHENKOV Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, meets with students of the Siberian Federal University in Ukraine would anger his
Associated Press Krasnoyarsk, Russia. As the drama over Attorney General Jeff Sessions plays out in Washington, congressional foes and put
MOSCOW (AP) — As the the Kremlin is watching with a mixture of frustration and regret how the uproar is blocking progress him in an even more pre-
drama over Attorney Gen- on pressing issues on the U.S.-Russian agenda. carious position.
eral Jeff Sessions plays out If Trump makes any at-
in Washington, the Kremlin (Alexei Nikolsky/Pool Photo via AP) tempt to ease the sanc-
is watching with a mixture tions imposed on Russia by
of frustration and regret administration and prevent In a conference call with with Washington on Syria the Obama administration,
how the uproar is blocking it from launching a mean- reporters, Putin’s spokes- beyond the U.S. diplomatic he could face strong resis-
progress on pressing issues ingful dialogue with the man Dmitry Peskov lament- presence at peace talks in tance in Congress.
on the U.S.-Russian agen- Kremlin any time soon. ed the lack of cooperation Kazakhstan’s capital of As- On the nuclear arms con-
da. tana that Russia and Turkey trol, Trump’s criticism of
Despite the dashed hopes brokered earlier this year. the 2010 New START treaty
for a quick thaw, however, “Similarly, there has been would potentially put him
Moscow is voicing its readi- no movement forward re- on a collision course with
ness to wait as long as it garding cooperation in Moscow, which has sig-
takes. the fight against terrorism, naled a desire to extend
Donald Trump had come which causes regret,” he the deal after it expires in
into office expressing admi- said. 2021.
ration for Russian President Trump has repeatedly But for now, the Kremlin is
Vladimir Putin and hoping talked of cooperating with trying to show patience.
to mend ties with Moscow, Russia in fighting the Islam- Peskov sought to play
which have sunk to the ic State group in Syria. The down Trump’s proposal to
lowest point since the Cold administration of former raise military spending by
War over the Ukrainian cri- President Barack Obama 9 percent, saying that’s a
sis, the war in Syria and oth- had ruled out such coop- domestic matter for Wash-
er disputes. eration because of Mos- ington. “It would hardly
But the allegations by U.S. cow’s support for its long- concern us until a rise in
intelligence agencies of time ally, Syrian President spending upsets the exist-
Russian meddling in the Bashar Assad. ing balance of strategic
election to help Trump de- “Without waiting for these deterrence,” he said.
feat Hillary Clinton will likely contacts to start, Russia has Asked to comment on the
continue to weigh over his been consistently contrib- developments on Sessions,
uting to the fight against Peskov cited Trump’s de-
terrorism and scoring re- scription of it as “a total
sults,” Peskov said, pointing witch hunt” and added:
to the Russian military’s role “We have nothing to add
in driving the Islamic State to the expansive definition
group from the historic Syr- given by President Trump.”
ian town of Palmyra. Sessions recused himself
Other issues on the tense Thursday from any inves-
Russian-U.S. agenda leave tigation into communica-
even less room for compro- tions between Trump aides
mise. and Moscow following rev-
On Ukraine, any move by elations that as senator,
Trump to soften the stance Sessions twice spoke with
on Russia’s annexation of Ambassador Sergey Kis-
the Crimean Peninsula and lyak during the 2016 elec-
its support for a separat- tion campaign and failed
ist insurgency in eastern to say so when pressed by
Congress.
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov argued
that contacts with officials
and lawmakers are part of
any ambassador’s duties.
He added that the pres-
sure on Sessions “strongly
resembles a witch hunt or
the times of McCarthyism,
which we thought were
long over in the United
States as a civilized coun-
try.”
In the 1950s, Sen. Joseph
McCarthy led a hunt for
purported communist infil-
trators in the U.S. govern-
ment, often involving un-
founded accusations that
promoted widespread
fear.q
