US still unable to isolate Russia, senior senator claims
The international isolation of Russia is impossible no matter how hard the United States tries, a senior Russian senator said in response to a US special envoy’s threats to freeze diplomatic and economic ties over the Ukraine crisis.
“The US special envoy is playing on Kiev’s side, which is not surprising. The strange thing here is that he has not yet understood that the isolation of Russia is not happening and it never will,” the head of the upper house Committee for Information Policy, Senator Aleksey Pushkov, tweeted.
“Volker’s attempts to frighten us are in vain. Russia will never be ousted from the system of diplomatic and economic relations. Obama’s experience has shown that the US lacks the power needed for this,” Pushkov noted in a separate tweet.
Россия не будет "выброшена из системы дипломатич. и эконом. отношений". Волкер напрасно нас пугает. Опыт Обамы показал: США это не по силам.
— Алексей Пушков (@Alexey_Pushkov) August 27, 2017
The comment came shortly after the Financial Times released an interview with US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker, who warned that the relations between the United States and the Russian Federation could be crippled if the Ukrainian crisis is not resolved.
Volker went on to issue a new threat of international isolation that Russia could face for alleged attempts to freeze the conflict in Donbass.
“A situation where Russia is going to be frozen out of diplomatic relationships, of economic relationships, because of this, is certainly not something that Russia would want,” he said.
In July, Pushkov warned US President Donald Trump that new sanctions against Russia will damage relations with Moscow and the EU while being unlikely to satisfy the anti-Trump factions within the US.
“If Trump signs the sanctions bill, he will not calm down his enemies – they desire his impeachment. But he will inflict double damage – to relations with Russia and the European Union at the same time,” he tweeted.
