Trump victory would 'shake' Washington and help mend relations – top Russian senator
A victory for Donald Trump at the upcoming US presidential elections could be the major change needed to reverse the negative trend in Russia-US relations, claims the head of the Russian Upper House Committee for Foreign Relations.
“Any continuation of the dialogue (which often looked more like a monologue performed by the US) using the same format that has been used over the past 25 years would automatically reproduce all conflicts and stalemates that we faced before – the NATO expansion, the creation of the global missile defense, the ’tug of war’ over the post-Soviet republics, and the attitude to the situation in the Middle East,” Konstantin Kosachev wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.
“New chances may appear only as radically new tendencies in the White House, and we are talking not only about pro-Russian sentiments, we simply need some fresh air, some ‘wind of change’ in Washington. Then, we can reset certain things and agree on continuation of the dialogue,” the senator added.
READ MORE: Majority of Russians say US administration ‘extremely hostile toward us’ - poll
Kosachev went on to explain that it was practically impossible to deal with US officials obsessed with “democracy messianism” or, in other words, the reorganization of the whole world so that it could better serve their own purposes. “For them, any agreements and compromises are temporary and their own objectives never change,” he complained.
“In the context of these two factors [Donald] Trump looks slightly more promising… At least, he is capable of giving a shake to Washington. He is certainly a pragmatist and not a missionary like his main opponent [Hillary] Clinton,” Kosachev stated.
“Perhaps, the ideal choice would be between Trump and Sanders, because they both would mark a principally new page in American history and because of that – in the history of Russia-US relations. But it seems that such competition is already out of the question,” the Russian senator added.
At the same time, Kosachev acknowledged that under any administration the United States was bound to implement certain geopolitical projects, such as NATO expansion, missile defense or trans-ocean trade partnerships, but noted that new faces in US politics could still bring some pleasant surprises.
“We will wait for surprises because in the ordinary mode and under system-born presidents from traditional clans, like Bush or Clinton, we will definitely have no changes at all,” he concluded.
In late April this year, another top Russian politician – the head of the Lower House Committee for Foreign Relations, Aleksey Pushkov – said that Donald Trump’s pragmatic and business-like approach to politics made him a better candidate than the Democrats with their fixation on spreading liberal ideology and values.
“I would like to emphasize – today Trump looks a more pragmatic candidate who is ready to reach agreements. What will happen after the elections, if he wins, is another question,” the Russian lawmaker said. “In reality, the demand for cooperation with Russia exists in the United States, but this demand is being artificially contained and removed from the agenda by the current US administration.”
READ MORE: Top Russian MP praises Trump’s pragmatism, readiness for cooperation
In December 2015, Vladimir Putin described Trump as the “absolute front-runner in the presidential race” and said Russia welcomed the US politician’s declared intention to restore normal relations. “He says he wants to move to another level of relations, to a deeper level of relations with Russia. How can we not welcome that? Of course we welcome it,” Putin said during his marathon annual Q&A session with journalists.
Trump replied that it was a “great honor” for him to receive praise from a “highly respected” leader such as Putin.
