Legendary Russian Ambassador Kislyak Explains How He Personally Helped Steal US Elections

Sergey Kislyak, the legendary Russian Ambassador to the US, who, if the US media is to be believed, is personally responsible for Donald Trump being the US President. He is grilled by the two of the Russia’s most popular journalists, Olga Skobeyeva and Yevgenyi Popov, moderators of 60 minutes, a political talk show that comes out twice a day on weekdays on Rossiya-1 channel

Sergey Kislyak, the legendary Russian Ambassador to the US, who, if the US media is to be believed, is personally responsible for Donald Trump being the US President. He is grilled by the two of the Russia’s most popular journalists, Olga Skobeyeva and Yevgenyi Popov, moderators of 60 minutes, a political talk show that comes out twice a day on weekdays on Rossiya-1 channel.

Host: Welcome home and well done, Sergey Ivanovich! You left the US on July 27, almost half a year ago, but Congress has gone insane in your absence. Poor Jeff Sessions had to be grilled by the Oversight Committee.

 

Kislyak: Yes, I saw that part at night, I was surprised and had deja vu, because I already saw this in the Senate hearings. The questions are exactly the same, there's nothing new. But most importantly, now it's not about us, or about me, or about our contacts, this is a war between the President's opponents and the President, and everyone around him.

Host: Sergey Ivanovich, now that you are in Russia, tell us honestly how did you manage to do all this really, how were you able to elect a new President for the US?

Kislyak: You know, your program isn’t bad… there is a lot of subtle humor at work here.

Host: Well the state of politics right now is such, that one can't do without a little irony.

Kislyak: You understand the thing is, all the talk about us getting the President elected, that we helped him in the US, its such nonsense that its hard to take with a straight face. And its happening in the US, the world “paragon of democracy.” Today, Russia and relations with it are becoming a bargaining chip, if not an instrument of inter-party and inter-group infighting in the US. And so all of this is very sad, because the end result is a slump in our relations to a level we probably haven't seen since the Cold War. Is it too late? I don't know, because...well look at what the Americans are doing, and look at the President, who some argue we helped to win. The current administration continued what the last one started.

There is a deterrence strategy aimed at Russia which seems to be composed of 3 simple parts: economic deception – that is sanctions, deployment of additional powers near our borders, and a massive propaganda campaign in the country done with the purpose of undermining the internal political atmosphere in Russia.

As for me becoming an untouchable or leper in the US, it appears to have started with a Washington Post article saying that I spoke on the phone with the National Security Advisor, of the then President-elect Trump.

Host: So what does it mean?

Kislyak: Well, what serious diplomat doesn't try to establish contacts with a new President's team? This is standard diplomatic work. But it was presented, all of this was presented as part of a sensational revelation, and it was followed by many speculations, scares, made up stories, a lot of falsehood, and it continues to live on.

And it was fueled by, regarding what I was speaking about earlier, the war between Democrats and Republicans, with part of the Republicans on the team of their President, the liberal press versus the White House, and in this toxic atmosphere, they made us toxic too.

Host: Sergey Ivanovich I think you may have noticed that our desire to reply to the Americans in kind is getting stronger. We expelled their diplomats, and today there are retaliatory sanctions... Well, not sanctions I suppose, it's wrong to call it sanctions, call it instead our tit-for-tat reply to the US Dep. of Justice. What is the logic of building up Russian-US relations if now we know that we'll never become friends. Will we ever take bolder steps? Or why is it that we always want to, but they always refuse to answer in kind? They seem to do a lot to us, but we do little in return. That is the impression we are getting.

Kislyak: Well, the Americans have an expression, “someone in the neighborhood has to be the adult.” The stakes are too high to give in to provocations from the US side. There'll be opportunities to remind the US about our grievances. It's not necessary to do it immediately and in the same way, and I don't think we need to sink to that level. But we, are a great country. A country which understands its own responsibility in the world. We understand that a lot can be accomplished together, not in the interest of the US, but for us as well and for international stability. Therefore, the extent to which they are ready to work on issues in our interest, we're holding the doors open and will keep them open.

But we will indeed reply to the insults sent our way.

What was passed today in the Duma, I think will pass next week in the Federal Council. It's a tit-for-tat reply. It's forced, because it's not possible not to reply to such disrespect. Furthermore, note that America's actions not only towards Russia but in many areas increasingly push the US away from other countries.

Host: Do you recall when they said that Russia would be put into isolation?

Kislyak: Yes, we remember the “Russia will be our gas station,” comments and what they did to our economy, everything they tore to shreds, we remember it all. And we'll continue to remember.

Host?: Sergei Ivanovich, if it's not too difficult can you list those with whom you met and spoke on the phone so that we know who will soon be put in jail next? Flint, Sessions, who else?

Kislyak: There are 2 problems here. First, I'll never do this, and second, the list will be so long that I won't be able to tell you in 20 minutes.

Host?: But what about Trump and Huntsman?

Kislyak: Its true that Trump says that he wants to normalize relations, but in politics everything is the other way around.

Host: Will the smiles and shaking of hands ever lead to changes?

Kislyak: I'm afraid that it won't change anytime soon, because we shouldn't judge a country’s foreign policy by smiles. Mr. Huntsman, he's a charming person, an experienced Ambassador, he's a good statesman for the US side, and he knows how to do his job. And he does his job right, he makes contacts in the country he's posted in, that's the work of every Ambassador. He establishes contacts, let me stress, that's the work of every Ambassador. And also of the Russian one to Washington, it's my work, and my successor's Anatoliy Antonov. It's normal.

The question is, what's behind all this? Behind the polite smiles that we see and hear now on the screens I don't see any actual change, the sanctions law was signed by the President. It was adopted almost unanimously in the Senate. The military build-up is underway. The new budget has been approved to allocate $4.6 billion I quote, "to help or strengthen Western armed forces in the European theater." Against who?

And we need to look not only at the smiles, but at what's behind them. But the fact that people can at least smile, at least creates the possibility for a normal conversation, and we'll have to see. We're ready to cooperate, but are they? We'll see, but there are difficulties in Syria. A lot has been done to break ISIS. It's practically destroyed, in Syria, at least. But pockets of them are left, pockets which sometimes hide behind the Americans and strike out at Syrian government forces.

North Korea is also, of course, a difficult problem, but it doesn't have any solution but a diplomatic solution. And everyone understands this, despite all the bravado and loud threatening statements. Therefore negotiations will happen, and all sides must take part in them. Russia will also play a very serious role here.

Ukraine. We have great interest in a reasonable order and solution to the problem. But our American friends are so stuck on the idea of covering up the Ukrainian government’s mistakes, including those that go against the Minsk Agreements, or blocking its implementation, that no quick solution is visible. Still, we must talk with the Americans as best we can.

Host: Sergei Kislyak, Russian Ambassador to the US, thank you so much for joining us.