(Washington Post) They’re resetting expectations in Russia for a reboot of relations with the United States.
It wasn’t that long ago that Russia’s establishment was reveling in President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. That enthusiasm has cooled drastically over the steady drumbeat of bad news coming from Washington.
There was Trump’s acknowledgment of the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia was responsible for hacking the Democratic Party during last year’s election. That followed lurid reports that Russian security agencies had compromising material on the president-elect, which came after new sanctions by the Obama administration.
Moscow dismissed it all, but then came the tough talk aimed at Russia by Trump’s nominees for defense secretary and CIA chief at confirmation hearings last week, who both referred to Russia as a threat in remarks that clashed with the president-elect’s call for cooperation with Russia on a number of fronts.
Now the euphoria has faded to a kind of somber acceptance. […]
Putin and his spokesman have consistently expressed hope for better relations but have alsocautioned about “excessive optimism.” Now, this wait-and-see stance may be self-defeating, said Pavel K. Baev, an analyst at the Peace Research Institute Oslo.
“The Kremlin has good reasons to worry that the combination of two scandals — on the hacking and on the dossier — has pushed Trump into an ugly corner,” Baev said. “He may conclude that since it is so hard to block the anti-Russia drive, it is far easier to take a lead on it. Makes perfect political sense, and one thing Trump is good at is making turnarounds.”
Baev suggested that some Putin advisers may argue in favor of allowing Trump a quick and impressive victory with Moscow, “instead of leaving him to explore options for going strong against Russia.” […]
Read More © The Washington Post
