WASHINGTON, November 12. /TASS/. Almost no one in US President Donald Trump’s inner circle is interested in normalizing relations between Washington and Moscow, former CIA and State Department official Larry Johnson told TASS.
He answered in the negative when asked whether, from his point of view, a genuine rapprochement between the US and Russia, a warming of relations, was possible under the current US administration. "I don't think so. If it was just up to Trump, probably. But unfortunately, Donald Trump is a terrible judge of people, and has a knack for putting the wrong people in the wrong jobs, and he has surrounded himself with a number of neocons who have zero interest in normalizing relations with Russia," Johnson said.
He previously served in the CIA, first in operational roles and later in analytical work. After leaving the agency in Langley, Johnson served as Deputy Director of the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism and has, in recent years, been active as a commentator and analyst in the fields of foreign policy and national security.
Missed opportunities
According to the expert, Trump has "had ample opportunity to take some steps, to make some gestures towards Moscow to show that he's serious." "You know, restoring direct flights, for example, between the United States and Russia. He hasn’t done that. Returning the illegally seized Russian [diplomatic real estate] property in the United States. Hasn't done that. Last I checked he hasn’t even named a [new US] ambassador to Moscow, somebody that would actually be seen as having influence with the Trump White House and being an important voice," Johnson stressed.
The former CIA employee named US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as Washington’s primary top-level opponents of improving Russia-US relations. "Then you've got the second-tier people like [the White House's Senior Director for Counterterrorism] Sebastian Gorka," Johnson continued.
"The only one you could possibly point to that would be close to having a sane view of Russia, would be [US Vice President] JD Vance. [US special presidential envoy Steve] Witkoff has a good relationship with [Special Envoy of the Russian President for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries Kirill] Dmitriev. But Witkoff is not formally part of the government," the analyst explained.
He also sharply criticized Bessent’s recent personal attack against Dmitriev during a broadcast on a US TV channel. "What an abjectly stupid thing to say on the part of Bessent. And if anything, that just creates more tension [in Russia-US relations], not less,"Johnson stated.