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| President Barack Obama participates in a bilateral meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia at the Esperanza Resort in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico, June 18, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) |
In a sharp departure from Russia's previous strategy of responding to U.S. sanctions in kind, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he would not kick out American diplomats -- one day after President Barack Obama moved to expel 35 Russian intelligence operatives.
Putin said he would not pursue "irresponsible diplomacy" and would instead attempt to rebuild relations with Washington after the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.
However, Putin said that Russia reserved the right to respond to the new US sanctions, which included the expulsion of 35 diplomats from the US. The Obama administration said the measures were in response to allegations that Russia had meddled in the 2016 US presidential election.
"Further steps towards the restoration of Russian-American relations will be built on the basis of the policies carried out by the administration of President Trump," a Kremlin statement said.
Trump Factor
Trump, who is due to take office in only three weeks' time, has signaled a desire for warmer relations with Russia.
While the US intelligence community has publicly stated Russia was behind hacks of political organizations and persons in the United States in the run-up to November's election, Trump has largely rejected the notion.
A top aide to Trump, Kellyanne Conway, speculated Thursday that the Obama administration's sanctions could have been intended to "box in" his successor over Russia.
A senior Obama administration official acknowledged Thursday that Trump could reverse the sanctions by executive order, but added, "I don't think it'd make a lot of sense."
Senior Republicans in Congress have backed the measures against Russia, even while criticizing Obama's handling of foreign policy -- signaling a potential split with Trump on the issue.
Putin's Reaction "An Enormous Insult" To Obama
In what was expected to be Obama last effort to show some strength and toughness at least for once against Putin, he ends up receiving a big insult. Putin effectively snubbing Obama in the light that he is on his way out. This obviously was not the reaction Obama expected. He would have loved an escalation knowing fully well that any one will bring the spotlight on Trump in a brave attempt to delegitimize the President-Elect.
Nigel Farage calls it a mature response from Putin.
Pleased to see a mature response from Putin. A @realDonaldTrump presidency can't come soon enough.— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) December 30, 2016
"Putin's "extraordinary" move essentially sidelines the Obama administration while it is still in office," said CNN's former Moscow bureau chief and Russia analyst Jill Dougherty.
By declining to match the move made by Washington with tit-for-tat measures, as a Russian president normally would do, Putin is really issuing "an enormous insult" to Obama, she said.
Putin's move also represents a huge challenge to Trump, Dougherty said, because he will come into office "having Vladimir Putin essentially reach across the divide and say 'let's do this together, let's just ignore all of this and go forward'."
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| Getty Image |
Dougherty added, "It's an amazing move and it's classic Putin, I would have to say -- he's a master of doing things that are unexpected, and this is truly unexpected."
But it's not only the Obama administration that the Russians are mocking: the American media, specifically CNN, are getting smacked by the Russians. After CNN reported that, according to a US official, "Russian authorities ordered the closure of the Anglo-American School of Moscow," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova took to Facebook to call out the fake news.
"American officials have 'anonymously briefed' their mass media about the fact that as a retaliatory measure Russia has closed the American School in Moscow. This is a lie," she wrote. "Clearly, the White House has completely lost its senses and begun to invent sanctions against its own children."
Russia is a deceptive, cruel and corrupt country that must be held in check by a strong America. Unfortunately, as Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan put it, the Obama administration's too little, too late actions only serve "as a prime example of this administration's ineffective foreign policy that has left America weaker in the eyes of the world."
Putin's "high road" and dismissive response is clearly intended to humiliate his American counterpart, a move consistent with the response of the Russian government, which has taken to social media to poke fun at the "lame duck" president.
By Elijah Okon
Chief Political Editor, DBliss Media
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