Ya Libnan

For Russia, the sweet taste of Trump’s victory has turned sour

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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a glass of champaign. Donald Trump’s shock victory in the presidential election T sent champagne corks flying around Moscow where state media and pro-Kremlin politicians were confidently predicting a dramatic turnaround in Russian-U.S. relations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a glass of champaign. Donald Trump’s shock victory in the presidential election  sent champagne corks flying around Moscow where state media and pro-Kremlin politicians were confidently predicting a dramatic turnaround in Russian-U.S. relations.

On the night of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President, champagne corks popped in Moscow.

Literally, on the floor of the Russian parliament, MPs cracked open bottles of sparkling wine and toasted his victory.
The thing is, they saw Trump’s victory as their victory, too. And why wouldn’t they? As presidential candidate, Trump promised to turn US policy towards Russia on its head.
He criticized Russia’s Cold War nemesis, NATO, a mainstay of US military power in Europe. He had spoken of working with Russia in Syria, where Moscow supports Bashar al-Assad, whom Washington opposes.
Trump hinted at easing painful sanctions imposed by Washington on Moscow over its intervention in Ukraine, even at recognizing Russian sovereignty over Crimea — the Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014.
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Trump seemed, in other words, to be a business-minded president with whom Moscow thought it could do a deal.

Wrong.
In fairness to Russian lawmakers, it didn’t take long for the high hopes to fade and for the disillusionment to set in.
State television was fawning in its Trump coverage in the early months of his presidency, only to abruptly drop all mention of the man once it emerged the widely anticipated détente in US-Russian relations wasn’t going to happen.
Trump’s failure to deliver on his promises about Russia — amid congressional and federal investigations into members of his administration potentially colluding with Russian actors interfering with the 2016 election — and the tightening of US sanctions all came as a bitter disappointment to the Kremlin. Trump has consistently denied any collusion with Russia.
Despite Trump often praising the Russian leader, those around President Putin always said they never viewed the incoming Trump administration with rose-tinted spectacles.
But behind the Kremlin’s walls, hopes had clearly been dashed.
In July last year, I asked President Putin whether he regretted, given the poor state of US-Russian relations, Donald Trump’s election.
“What we see is merely the growth of anti-Russian hysteria,” he told me.
“And, yes, I regret it,” he added, “because acting together we are more able to solve the acute problems that exist in the world.”
Even in July, Putin understood that the Russian dream of a sympathetic US president who would help Moscow restore its status as a major power was slipping ever further out of view.
In the next few weeks, the US Congress is expected to consider a further ratcheting up of economic sanctions against Russia and the Mueller probe may yield ever more clarity on Russian meddling in US politics.
So if Moscow is going to mark the first anniversary of Trump’s entering the Oval Office, we can be certain of one thing: It’s unlikely to do so with a celebratory glass of fizz, or with any sense of optimism in the air.
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6 responses to “For Russia, the sweet taste of Trump’s victory has turned sour”

  1. Niemals Avatar
    Niemals

    The sweet taste of Trump’s victory has turned very sour, due to US sanctions.
    Nervous Russian elite had finally realized that Putin made a serious mistake in supporting Trump.

    Washington is expected to impose fresh penalties on Russia for alleged interference in the 2016 US election, and around 300 oligarchs fear being named and included on a sanctions list. That’s why there are so many nervous Russian power elite.

    Putin’s steady and seemingly solid political structure, is under pressure from within and without, is undergoing a renovation that could remake the whole edifice, if it doesn’t crack open first.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f3a2d21a9a60560691322f73bb0239cf7967ff98ddd6b08ef117860ca0c8395.png
    Few seem to understand how this will turn out, or what their places will be in it when it’s done.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9359eb0b4276add9be3f896242536f6984496fcc1ed6c6091808389c60594ee1.png
    Since the street protests broke out in December 2011, rattling the ruling United Russia party just as Putin was preparing to retake the presidency, expectations have been widespread that the system would have to change.
    Now it’s happening, most obviously with almost daily public exposures of corruption and chiseling schemes, which for years were ignored.

    The highly publicized investigations may be mostly for show, but they have left the top rung of the political ladder nervously trying to discern the message and, analysts agree, figure out what the new rules are.
    Coupled with this is a sharp turn inward, away from the West, that promises to force some hard choices among an up-to-now comfortable cohort.

    An Olympic official whose construction company was over budget by 900 percent(!) on the building of a ski jump – and way behind schedule – was exposed by Putin himself on national television. Never happend before.

    A member of the State Duma, Vladimir Pekhtin, was let go when he couldn’t come up with a satisfactory explanation for the undeclared Miami properties in his name.

    In November, a criminal investigation that involved the defense minister – unpopular with the generals however a longtime close associate of Putin’s – suddenly burst into the open.
    Putin let the probe evolve – and Anatoly Serdyukov, lost his job – and then it bogged down.

    Serdyukov had powerful opponents inside the Kremlin among the “siloviki” (politicians from the security or military services) or those with a background in the security services – the officers of the former KGB, GRU, FSB, SVR.
    Putin may be keeping Serdyukov free from indictment, Pavlovsky said, so as to be sure that the siloviki don’t entirely surround him.

    So if Moscow is going to mark the first anniversary of Trump’s entering the Oval Office, we can be certain of one thing: It’s unlikely there will be any sense of optimism in the air.

    It remains to be seen if Russian investments in Syria will pay off with expected results, or it will show to be a bad investment.

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      Copy-pasting bit and pieces of articles as if you were the an author, without the references, is unethical its called Copyright fraud.

      “Since the street protests broke out in December 2011, rattling the ruling United Russia party just as Putin was preparing to retake the presidency, expectations have been widespread that the system would have to change.
      Now it’s happening, most obviously with almost daily public exposures of corruption and chiseling schemes, which for years were ignored.”
      -Taken from:
      “Ever since street protests broke out in December 2011, rattling the ruling United Russia party just as Putin was preparing to retake the presidency, there have been widespread expectations that the system here would have to change. Now it’s happening, most obviously with almost daily public exposures of corruption, which for years was ignored.”

      ‘Nervous Russian elite wary as Putin transforms his political edifice’
      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/12/vladimir-putin-russia-political-corruption

      1. Y K Avatar
        Y K

        So copy-pasting is bad now? A classic case of an open latrine complaining about the foul smell from the neighbor’s yard. 🙂

        1. Niemals Avatar
          Niemals

          How comes that Hindenburg is suddenly against copy-pasting?

          1. Y K Avatar
            Y K

            A crazy person usually lacks self-awareness.

          2. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Give sources Aniemals

            “Since the street protests broke out in December 2011, rattling the ruling United Russia party just as Putin was preparing to retake the presidency, expectations have been widespread that the system would have to change.
            Now it’s happening, most obviously with almost daily public exposures of corruption and chiseling schemes, which for years were ignored.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/12/vladimir-putin-russia-political-corruption

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