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"The media report about some preliminary agreements regarding the meeting between Putin and Trump is not true," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency. The spokesperson noted the only contact made with the Trump administration until now was for protocol reasons and no other formal contract would be initiated before his swearing in on January 20. The incoming president has suggested that new nuclear arms reduction deal seems to be on the cards linked to a review of sanctions against Russia.
Under this deal, if Russia agrees to cutting down its nuclear weapons arsenal, the United States would propose offering to end sanctions imposed on the country over its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and its support for pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. “They have sanctions on Russia – let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia,” the Republican president-elect was quoted as saying by the Times. “For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that’s part of it. But Russia’s hurting very badly right now because of sanctions, but I think something can happen that a lot of people are gonna benefit.”
Some experts, however, are concerned. Coupled with Trump's remarks that the NATO alliance was "obsolete," they feel removing sanctions in return for a reduction in nuclear weapons would effectively grant the U.S.’s blessing to Russia’s invasions of Ukraine, which in turn would increase the unease in other east European countries such as Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. Nicholas Soames, a British Conservative MP and grandson of Winston Churchill, tweeted, “Trump needs to show he is not naive and understands that Putin’s aim is to destroy the transatlantic alliance and weaken the EU.”
Ironically, prior to running for the U.S. presidential election, in March 2014, Donald Trump called Russia the United States' "biggest problem" and greatest geopolitical foe, a sharp contrast to his current Moscow-friendly rhetoric. He also at the time suggested imposing sanctions to hurt Russia economically and subsequently said he supports such sanctions, a far cry from his current views. "There are a lot of things we could be doing economically to Russia. Russia is not strong economically and we could do a lot of different things to really do numbers on them if we wanted to," Trump had said less than three years ago.
Russias foe-turned-friend Trump has said he would end sanctions for nuclear arms cut
Obama said overnight he had told President Vladimir Putin he was ready to proceed with nuclear disarmament, but that Russia didn't want to negotiate.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin makes his annual New Year address to the nation in Moscow
"The Russian side always favored a proportional and fair process of nuclear disarmament," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. "It can't be disproportional."
Kremlin hits out at Obama, says was always ready for nuclear arms cuts
The department said in a statement it would allow U.S. companies to make limited transactions with FSB that are needed to gain approval to import information technology products into Russia. At the White House, President Donald Trump responded to a reporter’s question about whether he was easing sanctions on Russia, saying, “I’m not easing anything.” Sanctions experts and former Obama administration officials stressed the exceptions do not signal a broader shift in Russia policy. They said the license was designed to fix an unintended consequence caused by December’s sanctioning of the FSB.
The exceptions were likely in progress before Trump took office on Jan. 20, said Peter Harrell, a sanctions expert and former senior U.S. State Department official. Beyond its intelligence function, the FSB also regulates the importation of software and hardware that contains cryptography. Companies need FSB approval even to import broadly available commercial products such as cell phones and printers if they contain encryption. Harrell said tech companies had complained. “I don’t think when they sanctioned FSB they were intending to complicate the sale of cell phones and tablets,” Harrell said.
David Mortlock, a former National Security Council advisor for Obama said that before granting such exceptions, the administration would ask who a sanction was hurting and who it was benefiting. Mortlock, now an attorney, said “here it’s a pretty easy calculus” because it was clear tech companies were the ones harmed by not being able to import software into Russia, not the spy agencies. U.S. intelligence agencies accused the FSB of involvement in hacking of Democratic Party organizations during the election to discredit Democrat Hillary Clinton and help Republican Trump.
The agencies and private cyber security experts concluded the FSB first broke into the Democratic National Committee’s computer system in the summer of 2015 and began monitoring email and chat conversations. They said FSB was one of two Russian spy agencies involved in a broad operation approved by top-ranking people in the Russian government. In December, Obama expelled 35 suspected Russian spies and sanctioned two spy agencies. He also sanctioned four Russian intelligence officers and three companies that he said provided support to the cyber operations.
U.S. eases sanctions on Russian intelligence agency
Oh, I bet Vlad's sitting in his dacha laughing while sipping Vodka.
