The issue of Russian election interference has hung over Trump’s entire presidency, clouding his efforts to deal with Moscow.
By Anne Gearan and Anne Gearan White House reporter Email Bio Follow Anton Troianovski Anton Troianovski Moscow bureau chief covering Russia Email Bio Follow May 14 at 6:38 PM With the special counsel investigation of Russian election interference now complete, the Trump administration cautiously offered a fresh start with Russia on Tuesday as the two countries find their interests colliding on a range of international issues.
The same disagreements that have soured U.S.-Russian relations for more than two years remain, including over whether Moscow interfered in the 2016 election and Russian anger over retaliatory U.S. sanctions. U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Russia engaged in a widespread effort to undermine the election and harm Trump’s opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Questions about ongoing Russian influence were fueled by Trump’s resistance to the findings of his own intelligence agencies and his deference to Putin. In their first phone call in months, on May 3, Trump chose not to confront Putin over the election interference or warn him not to do it again. “You can see we have some disagreements on this issue,” Pompeo told reporters. “I made clear to Foreign Minister Lavrov, as we’ve made clear in the past months, that interference in American elections is unacceptable. If the Russians were to engage in that in 2020 it would put our relationship in an even worse place than it has been, and we encourage them not to do that. We would not tolerate that.
Russian commentators took to predicting that a key prerequisite for U.S.-Russian ties to improve was for the Mueller investigation to end. Trump canceled a formal meeting with Putin on the sidelines of an international economic summit in Argentina in late November over that Russian action, although the two had what the White House described as an “informal” conversation.
On Venezuela, Lavrov and Pompeo showed no sign of budging from opposing sides in that country’s crisis. But Pompeo also named regions where he saw potential for the United States and Russia to work together more closely. The United States this year backed out of a Cold War-era treaty with Russia limiting short- and medium-range ground-based missiles, citing Russian violations.
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