Trump praises Putin for waiting for his inauguration and not reacting to US sanctions

Saturday, December 31st 2016 - 15:45 UTC

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Donald Trump wants closer ties with Russia once he takes office.

“We are not going to expel anyone ... We are not going to fall into irresponsible diplomacy,” Putin said.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for not reacting immediately to Washington's sanctions over alleged interference in his election. ”Great move (...) I always knew he was very smart, ”Trump wrote on Twitter.

The Republican tycoon, who has promised a rapprochement with Russia when he arrives at the White House on January 20, responded to Putin's surprise announcement of not retaliating against sanctions imposed by the Obama administration on Russian intelligence agencies.

Against the suggestion of Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov, Putin decided “not to expel anyone”, in response to Obama's expulsion Thursday of 35 “Russian agents” in the United States, accused by Washington of interference in the presidential elections.

“We are not going to expel anyone ... We are not going to fall into irresponsible diplomacy,” Putin said in a statement, as he dscribed Washington's sanctions as “provocative” and aimed at further deteriorating Russian-American relations.

In any case, Russia reserves “the right to take retaliatory measures” and “will restore Russian-American relations based on the policy of President-elect Donald Trump,” Putin said.

The Obama administration accuses Russia of hacking and spreading e-mails from the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, and her aides to tip the election in favor of Trump, who ended up victorious.

But the next US president has dismissed accusations of electoral interference and denounced them as an attempt by Democrats to delegitimize his triumph.

Categories: Politics, International.

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Disclaimer & comment rules

:o))
BO is no match for Putin; as BO was made fool of - time & time again - by Putin.

As far as Trump vs Putin is concerned; actually both are on the SAME side - the side of making more money for themselves and for their empires. Hence BOTH stand an excellent chance and MANY opportunities for creating win-win situations on innumerable occasions.
Jan 01st, 2017 - 10:39 am +3
Voice
It almost sounds like folk on here support and admire the pint sized dictator Putin....he is not clever, he is not admirable...he is ruthless and should be thwarted on every move...
Appeasement is a dangerous game that has never had the desired results....
Jan 01st, 2017 - 03:33 pm +2
Marti Llazo
If as voicey says, Putin is not clever, then his so easily making a monkey of Obama casts the latter as even more clueless.
Jan 01st, 2017 - 06:20 pm +2

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