There’s just hysteria in the US in regards to Russia.
Our correspondent in Washington Alexander Khristenko will tell you about what it looks and sounds like.
Their military budget is 700 billion dollars, they have 800 bases around the world, but America is again threatened by Russia. This time, by a supposedly preventive nuclear strike. This thesis was included in the new US nuclear doctrine.
"Moscow threatens and exercises limited nuclear first use, suggesting a mistaken expectation that coercive nuclear threats or limited first use could paralyze the US and NATO and thereby end the conflict on terms favorable to Russia".
Therefore, the US intends to equip some intercontinental missiles with lower-yield warheads and revive the weapons of the Cold War, a sea-based cruise missile with a nuclear warhead. All this increases the risk of a nuclear war. But, it turns out that all means are good to contain Russia. And sanctions are from the same arsenal.
The so-called "Kremlin Report" was prepared here, in the US Treasury, on the basis of data from the State Department and US intelligence. These data appear to have entered the secret part of the report. But it’s unknown what is in it, how many names there are, who these people are, and what kind of anti-Russian measures are being prepared.
In the open part of the "Kremlin Report," there are the names of almost the entire political leadership of Russia and the largest businessmen. This is a wrong list, and it’ll produce the wrong effect, as the upset senior member of the Atlantic Council Anders Åslund thinks. Together with the curator of the Obama administration for anti-Russian sanctions, Daniel Freed, and a couple of Russian opposition members, he worked on his version of the list with names. But it all went wrong.
"Someone high-ranking, it’s still unknown who, threw out all the expert work. This someone can be in the State Department, the Ministry of Finance or the White House".
The list was approved by the head of the US Treasury, Steven Mnuchin. The senators demanded an explanation.
Steven Mnuchin: "We didn’t abolish the sanctions and aren't hesitant to introduce the new ones. They’ll be the result of this work. But you haven’t introduced them yet. It seems that you’re slowing down. No, we aren’t. Sanctions are based on a large amount of intelligence. A great deal of work was done when preparing the report. Now, we’ll take this report as a basis and determine, as we usually do this, where sanctions should be applied".
Nevertheless, such actions of the Trump administration were regarded almost as a betrayal. Democrats and the liberal press continued to promote an obviously absurd assertion that "the White House and the Kremlin have a conspiracy, and President Trump is a Russian spy."
"Hey, man, if you really want to give yourself away, maybe you should start your address to the Congress with the words "my fellow Russians".
Paul Saunders, executive director of the Center for National Interest: "Any administration is usually more reserved towards Russia than the Congress since it’s the administration that is responsible for foreign policy and the consequences of its implementation. The government is calculating what Russia’s answer can be if the US introduce sanctions, whether they’ll achieve their goal, and how much it’ll cost the US. Leaders in the Congress don’t think about such questions, they have a different role".
In an exclusive interview with our TV channel, Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, commented on the pressure of Washington through sanctions.
Anatoly Antonov: "I want to ask a question: are those politicians and people who introduce sanctions against Russia really think that we'll put our tail between our legs and stop protecting our position? Today we have a leader around who we'll unite and become stronger, this is Mr. Putin".
However, America isn’t ready to incur losses from anti-Russian sanctions. The US Treasury opposed the proposal to impose sanctions on investments in the Russian public debt, since American businessmen may suffer from this.
"Given the size of Russia's economy, its interconnectedness and prevalence in global asset markets, the magnitude of consequences from expanding sanctions to sovereign debt and derivatives is uncertain and the effects could be borne by both Russian and the US investors".
When it comes to American interests, as it turned out, Washington is ready to neglect already imposed sanctions. Thus, the director of Russian foreign intelligence Sergey Naryshkin visited the US, and he’s included in the US sanctions list. He arrived on a regular Aeroflot flight, held talks with CIA Director Mike Pompeo. The heads of the Russian FSB and the GRU also visited Washington. The Democrats' reaction in the Congress was stormy.
Chuck Schumer, the US senator: "We sanction the head of their foreign intelligence. But Trump's administration invites him to go through our main entrance. President Trump disregards his duties. And he's likely to be more focused on infringing the rule of law in our country than on standing up to Putin".
In response to emotional accusations, the CIA director wrote to the senator in a calm and reasonable manner: "We periodically meet with our Russian intelligence colleagues for the same reasons that our predecessors held such meetings, for the sake of ensuring the safety of Americans".
The State Department reacted as well.
Heather Nauert, the US State Department spokesman: ”If there is a question which is in the interest of US national security, we, like other countries, can lift restrictions so that these people can enter the US".
This confirms the fact that even with the current state of bilateral relations, we can’t do without the cooperation between Russia and America in some areas.
Alexander Khristenko, Nikolai Koskin, Vesti News of the Week, Washington, USA.
