The Russians are calling it “Ukrainegate.”
“I never thought I’d say it, but CNN is right,” remarked one pundit on Russia 1, the county’s most-watched television station. “The person who wins in this situation is Putin.”
Commentary in Russian media about the impeachment investigation of U.S. President Donald Trump in many ways echoes the language of U.S. coverage. Just a few of the jokes are different.
MOSCOW — As the impeachment inquiry into President Trump heads into its third week, his outbursts have intensified. He’s accused members of Congress of treason. In news conferences, he’s interrupted world leaders to engage in heated exchanges with journalists.
And of course, there are the tweets. On Monday he bragged about his “great and unmatched wisdom.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be enjoying the show.
View the complete October 9 article by Sabra Syres on The Los Angeles Times website here.
Donald Trump called Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this year and asked him for access to British intelligence which may discredit the Mueller inquiry into the president’s alleged links to Russia.
The Times of London reports that the president called Johnson on July 26 and asked him to provide the US Attorney General William Barr with evidence that may undermine the investigation.
Several days later Barr attended a meeting of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance in London where he repeated the president’s suspicions about UK intelligence agencies, the paper reports.
View the complete October 2 article by Adam Bienkov on The Business Insider website here.
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Friday that it hoped that Washington would not release confidential details of phone calls between President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comment when asked about the White House’s release of a reconstruction of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that has set off a U.S. domestic political storm.
Peskov said it was not normal diplomatic practice to release confidential details of such calls and that he hoped the bad state of ties with Washington would not lead to a similar situation arising in Russia’s case.
View the September 27 article from Andrew Osborn and Tom BalmforthReuters on the Yahoo website here.
WASHINGTON — Decades ago, the C.I.A. recruited and carefully cultivated a midlevel Russian official who began rapidly advancing through the governmental ranks. Eventually, American spies struck gold: The longtime source landed an influential position that came with access to the highest level of the Kremlin.
As American officials began to realize that Russia was trying to sabotage the 2016 presidential election, the informant became one of the C.I.A.’s most important — and highly protected — assets. But when intelligence officials revealed the severity of Russia’s election interference with unusual detail later that year, the news media picked up on details about the C.I.A.’s Kremlin sources.
C.I.A. officials worried about safety made the arduous decision in late 2016 to offer to extract the source from Russia. The situation grew more tense when the informant at first refused, citing family concerns — prompting consternation at C.I.A. headquarters and sowing doubts among some American counterintelligence officials about the informant’s trustworthiness. But the C.I.A. pressed again months later after more media inquiries. This time, the informant agreed.
The list of military construction projects the Trump administration is defunding to pay for its controversial border wall includes more than $770 million from an initiative started by the Obama administration to shore up European defense after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
The cuts, which include upgrades to airfields in Slovakia, ammunition storage in Poland and Special Operations Forces facilities in Estonia, come at a time when the Trump administration is also withholding $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine as it reviews whether to continue the funding program at current levels.
After reviewing the Pentagon’s list of projects being targeted, Jim Townsend, who spent eight years as deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO Policy, said the European military construction projects slated to lose funding include serious “military muscle.”
View the complete September 6 article by Kate Brennen on the JustSecurity.org website here.
For thousands of dollars, you can join these former GOP stalwarts on a Baltic tour.At a time when U.S.-Russian relations are at a post-Cold War nadir, former GOP stalwarts Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum decided to visit St. Petersburg. According to Huckabee’s Twitter feed, the two have spent the past few days in Russia, touring the city and visiting seaside restaurants.
The two are helping lead a for-profit cruise through the Baltic Sea — one that costs guests anywhere between $5,000 and $12,000 to attend.
On Facebook, Huckabee pitched the cruise as an “unforgettable trip to the Baltics,” noting that it would also be stopping in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark.
View the complete August 13 article by Casey Michel on the ThinkProgress website here.
“It sure seems like Russia’s No. 1 ally in compromising American election security is Mitch McConnell.” That’s Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, talking to Politico at this year’s DEFCON hacker conference in Las Vegas. Wyden and a couple of other Democrats were at the conference, “where a roomful of hackers demonstrated ways to breach insecure voting machines, those lawmakers focused their fury on the man proudly blocking their bills.”
Moscow Mitch, to be precise. “Why hasn’t Congress fixed the problem? Two words: Mitch McConnell,” Wyden said in his keynote address at DEF CON’s Voting Village. Rep. Ted Lieu, Democrat from California was there too, and told Politico his biggest election security concern: “I have two words: Mitch McConnell.” The House, along with having passed two bills that would expand background checks for gun purchases, has also passed election security bills.
McConnell is standing in the way of both, making him a legitimate threat to American’s personal safety and national security. He “knows full well that blocking election security legislation makes it easier for Russia and other foreign powers to attack the next election,” Wyden said. “And my sense is this is a price Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump are willing to accept.” Lieu agreed, “I think you have to ask, why would Mitch McConnell not want to improve election security?”
View the complete August 12 article by Joan McCarter from Daily Kos on the AlterNet website here.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman on Tuesday turned in his resignation letter to President Trump.
“American citizenship is a privilege and I believe the most basic responsibility in return is service to country,” Huntsman wrote. “To that end, I am honored by the trust you have placed in me as the United States ambassador to Russia during this historically difficult period in bilateral relations.”
“It is my hope that this will allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed,” he added. “I pledge my full effort in facilitating a smooth transition that ensures our foreign policy goals are kept in proper focus.”
View the complete August 6 article by Jessica Campisi on The Hill website here.
In July 2016, Donald Trump — then still the Republican Party’s presidential candidate — openly encouraged Russia to hack Hillary Clinton, then the Democratic Party’s nominee for the White House.
“I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” Trump told a group of reporters assembled reporters at a news conference.
As former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report made clear, this was not the beginning of Trump’s association with Russia — but it was certainly a flashpoint.
View the complete August 4 article by Matthew Rozsa from Salon on the AlterNet logo here.
