Category: Vladimir Putin

Trump thanks Putin for Christmas letter, offers to restore relations

Miami, Dec 24 : US President-elect Donald Trump thanked Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the “very nice” Christmas letter in which the latter expressed his wishes “to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation”. [NK World] In a statement released on Friday, Trump thanked Putin for the Christmas greeting and said the thoughts expressed in the letter are “so correct”, Efe reported.

Putin news conference: Relations with US ‘can’t be worse’

Russian President Vladimir Putin downplayed suggestions Friday there was a risk of a new nuclear arms race between Russia and the United States, shrugging off comments by US President-elect Donald Trump on Twitter as “nothing new.” “As for the newly elected president of the US, there is nothing new,” Putin said during his annual news conference that lasted four hours.

The Latest: Putin: Democrats should apologize over emails

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 23, 2016. Putin says he sees “nothing unusual” in Donald Trump’s pledge to strengthen the U.S. nuclear forces, calling the statement is in line with the U.S. president-elect’s campaign promises.

The Latest: Putin rejects accusations of meddling in US vote

Russian President Vladimir Putin is praising U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for keenly feeling American voters’ mood to win the election, and he rejects the White House’s accusations of meddling in the vote. Speaking at an annual news conference, Putin said Friday that Russia hopes to develop “businesslike and constructive relations that would benefit both Russia and the United States.”

The Latest: Putin says nuke missiles can pierce any defense

Speaking at Friday’s end-of-year news conference, Putin said Russia had to develop the capability after the U.S. in 2001 opted out of a Cold War-era treaty banning missile defense systems. He argued that the modernization of Russian nuclear forces is in line with existing arms control agreements, including the New Start Treaty with the United States.

Trump: Beef up U.S. nuke clout

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday on Twitter that the United States should greatly “expand its nuclear capability,” appearing to embrace an end to decades of bipartisan presidential efforts to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. defenses and strategy. Trump’s midafternoon post may have been a response to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who in a speech earlier Thursday called for continued improvement of his country’s nuclear abilities so it can “reliably penetrate any existing and prospective missile defense systems.”

Trump tweets rattle markets, Mideast, nukes

President-elect Donald Trump long ago earned a reputation for being unpredictable in his statements, but he outdid himself on Thursday. In the span of just a few hours, Trump shook international relations by undercutting the Obama administration over a UN resolution on Israeli settlements, indicated he would ramp up nuclear competition with Russia and then jolted a major defense contractor — and its shareholders — by suggesting he would ask Boeing to replace a fighter jet being made by Lockheed Martin.

Trump: US must ‘greatly strengthen’ nuclear capability

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday abruptly called for the United States to “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability” until the rest of the world “comes to its senses” regarding nuclear weapons. His comments on Twitter came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin said strengthening his country’s nuclear capabilities should be a chief military objective in the coming year.

Morning Bits

Steven Mnuchin, left, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, walks through the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 7. President-elect Donald Trump’s Achilles heel : “You’re seeing members like John McCain and Lindsey Graham kind of coming out guns blazing, even threatening the nomination of Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state, saying that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is a butcher and a thug, and we can’t do business with him. The concern is that Trump has this kind of personal admiration for Putin that may blind him to Russia’s real goals and to what America’s strategic stake is in doing business with Russia.

Dems press for Tillerson’s tax returns

Democrats are accusing Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to become secretary of state, of reneging on a pledge to hand over three years worth of tax returns. A standard questionnaire sent jointly by Democrats and Republicans asks whether the nominee would be willing to provide prior tax returns for himself and his spouse “if asked.”

Inside the Beltway: Networks weaponize their Russian hack coverage

The big three broadcast networks still appear intently interested in President-elect Donald Trump , and not in a good way: “The broadcast networks treat accusations of Russian hacking very differently when they can use it as an angle to bash Trump,” says Mike Ciandella , an analyst for Newsbusters.org, a conservative press watchdog. He discovered a major discrepancy.

Trump Seen Paying Off for Putin With Sanctions Relief Next Year 18 minutes ago

The U.S. will start easing its penalties, imposed over the showdown in Ukraine in 2014, during the next 12 months, according to 55 percent of respondents in a Bloomberg survey, up from 10 percent in an October poll. Without the restrictions, Russia’s economic growth would get a boost equivalent to 0.2 percentage point of gross domestic product next year and 0.5 percentage point in 2018, according to the median estimates in the poll.  Donald Trump’s surprise election in November is feeding expectations of a sea change in U.S. policy even after the European Union this week rolled over its economic penalties against Russia for an additional six months.

Trump Seen Paying Off for Putin With Sanctions Relief Next Year 18 minutes ago

The U.S. will start easing its penalties, imposed over the showdown in Ukraine in 2014, during the next 12 months, according to 55 percent of respondents in a Bloomberg survey, up from 10 percent in an October poll. Without the restrictions, Russia’s economic growth would get a boost equivalent to 0.2 percentage point of gross domestic product next year and 0.5 percentage point in 2018, according to the median estimates in the poll.  Donald Trump’s surprise election in November is feeding expectations of a sea change in U.S. policy even after the European Union this week rolled over its economic penalties against Russia for an additional six months.

Aleppo: Obama’s legacy of shame

All decent men and women should condemn the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey. They should also condemn the deliberate mass bombing of Syrian civilians in Syria by troops under the command of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

Villanova still No. 1 in AP Top 25 men’s hoops; UCLA at 2

The Latest on the Electoral College meeting Monday to formally elect Donald Trump the nation’s 45th president : The Latest on the Electoral College meeting Monday to formally elect Donald Trump the nation’s 45th president : U.S. women are increasingly using pot during pregnancy, sometimes for morning sickness. That’s according to an analysis of annual U.S. government drug surveys.

Editorial: Snapshots from the nation’s press

This image released last Thursday by Aleppo 24 shows residents gathered near green government buses for evacuation from eastern Aleppo, Syria. Allegations that the Russian government tried to influence America’s election are extraordinarily serious – “the political equivalent to 9/11,” according to Michael Morell, the former acting director of the CIA.

Podesta Refuses To Say Election Was ‘Free And Fair’ [VIDEO]

Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta refused two separate times on Sunday to acknowledge that last month’s election was “free and fair.” “Do you believe this was a free and fair election?” NBC “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd asked Podesta, whose hacked emails were published online during the campaign.

Donna Brazile Contradicts Obama’s Claim That Hacking Stopped After His Warning To Putin [VIDEO]

Donna Brazile, the interim head of the Democratic National Committee, disputed President Obama’s recent claim that the Russian government stopped hacking Democrats’ emails after he warned Russian president Vladimir Putin of consequences for the attacks several months ago. “President Obama also said that the cyber attacks stopped after he warned Putin is that right that they stopped?” ABC News’ Martha Raddatz asked Brazile during an interview on Sunday morning.

The Trump Cabinet: Bonfire of the agencies

Democrats spent the first two decades of the post-Cold War era rather relaxed about Russian provocations and revanchism. President Barack Obama famously mocked Mitt Romney in 2012 for suggesting that Russia was our principal geopolitical adversary.

Trump Cabinet excites his voters: a We have to trust hima

As each Cabinet announcement draws fresh criticism of the wealth, connections or opinions of Donald Trump’s latest appointees, many Americans who voted for him say the president-elect is doing what he promised to do: draining the swamp. To them, the idea of a defence secretary nicknamed “Mad Dog” is bliss.

Op-ed: Red flags over Trump Towers

There is a really good reason to support Senate confirmation of Rex Tillerson to be President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state: Tony Perkins opposes him. Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council, otherwise known as the Bedroom Busybodies.

Hillary blames Comey letter, Putin orchestrated hacking behind her stunning loss

Defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has blamed her presidential election loss on the “unprecedented” events of Russian cyber hacking and the FBI’s probe into her use of her personal email server. The cyber attacks — which US intelligence sources believe were approved by Vladimir Putin — were the result of a “personal beef” the Russian leader had with her, Clinton told the gathering of fundraisers, who had given a total of about USD 1 billion to her campaign.

Obama says Putin knew about hacks: President urges Trump to take…

President Barack Obama put Russia’s Vladimir Putin on notice Friday that the U.S. could use offensive cyber muscle to retaliate for interference in the U.S. presidential election, his strongest suggestion to date that Putin had been well aware of campaign email hacking. Caught in the middle of a post-election controversy over Russian hacking, Obama strongly defended his administration’s response, including his refusal before the voting to ascribe motive to the meddling or to discuss now what effect it might have had.

Obama, rapping Putin, says US could strike back on cyber

President Barack Obama put Russia’s Vladimir Putin on notice Friday that the U.S. could use offensive cyber muscle to retaliate for interference in the U.S. presidential election, his strongest suggestion to date that Putin had been well aware of campaign email hacking. Caught in the middle of a post-election controversy over Russian hacking, Obama strongly defended his administration’s response, including his refusal before the voting to ascribe motive to the meddling or to discuss now what effect it might have had.

Obama, rapping Putin, says US could strike back on cyber

President Barack Obama suggested strongly on Friday that Russia’s Vladimir Putin knew about the email hackings that roiled the U.S. presidential race, and he urged his successor, Republican Donald Trump, to back a bipartisan investigation into the matter. “Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin,” Obama said in his year-end news conference.