All news

Trump’s approach to Russia remains unchanged — source

The US president "wants to find areas for cooperation" with Russia and, at the same time, "defend the United States’ interests"

WASHINGTON, January 19. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump continues to be committed to having good relationship with Russia, a senior US administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said in a brief conversation with a TASS correspondent in the run-up to the first anniversary of Trump’s inauguration.

When asked to comment on the evolution of Trump’s approach to Russia, the official said, "Actually I do not see any evolution in his position. I believe it has remained unchanged."

He explained that the US president "wants to find areas for cooperation" with Russia and, at the same time, "defend the United States’ interests." Trump earlier repeatedly expressed his desire to come to terms with Russia to search for a joint solution to the key problems.

Answering a question about how the anti-Russian rhetoric, which has been running high in Washington for over a year now, the US official drew attention to Trump’s remarks at his recent news conference at the White House. "He believes that the fuss you mentioned is humiliating for the US," he said. "People keep pointing accusing fingers at each other, the political system is tearing itself apart. In his view, all that takes the authorities too much time and makes the US look silly in other countries’ eyes."

Trump said at that news conference that it is much better to work with Russia, for example, to resolve the situation around North Korea. He added though that the Russian leaders may not like many of his moves, in particular, those aimed at boosting the US energy potential and military strength.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently commented on the possibility of normalizing relations with the US at a meeting with the heads of Russia’s printed media and news agencies.

"We have long been ready for the normalization, it is just that the internal political situation in the States is not stabilizing," the Russian leader said.