NEWSWATCH: “What would Trump presidency mean for Russia: risks and opportunities” – Dmitri Trenin/Carnegie Moscow/Euronews

January 23, 2017 JRL Russia List JRL NewsBlog, Russian News, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

The inauguration of Donald T#rump does not require a complete overhaul of #Russian policy towards the United States, but rather should inspire reflection on opportunities for improvement of the fraught dynamic between these two powers. The illusion that the new president is a friend to #Russia must be abandoned, as must the notion that under him relations between Moscow and Washington will be easier than under his predecessor. Relations with Trump will also be difficult, but in a different way than with Obama. Trump’s foreign policy program has not yet been formulated, however, the new president has surrounded himself with many people who are skeptical and some even hostile towards Russia. More broadly, the US political elite has offered Trump a Faustian bargain of acknowledging the legitimacy of his election in exchange for a consensus from his administration that Russia is an enemy of the United States. November celebrations in Moscow should have been for Clinton’s defeat, not for Trump’s victory. …