U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said that Washington’s dialogue with Moscow is hindered by accusations of "conspiring with Russia" after every attempt by countries to agree on something.
Bolton stressed that such accusations are put forward by opponents of U.S. President Donald Trump. "Everything is used by Trump’s opponents as evidence of conspiracy with Russia. I have been negotiating with Russia for a long time on many issues ... But the political atmosphere in Washington makes this work very difficult," Bolton said.
At the same time, he stressed that the United States is taking tough measures against Russia, including sanctions, RBC reports.
Director of the Institute of Political Studies Sergei Markov, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted in the first place that although this factor in the inter-American struggle interferes with the normal relations between Russia and the United States, it is not the main one. "If he is opposed by only Trump’s opponents among the Democrats, he could have ignored them," the expert said.
According to him, the whole point is that in addition to the democrats, so-called 'deep states' are in favor of a rift with Russia. "These are special services, the Pentagon, corporations, leading media outlets, leading research centers - think tanks. It is hard for Trump to ignore their opinion. And when both the Democratic Party and 'deep states' come together, it becomes the force that determines the policy," Markov explained.
In addition, he drew attention to the fact that Bolton's statement has a certain positive signal for Russia. "I think that this statement can be interpreted in such a way that even leading officials of the administration, politicians, everyone understands how deep the irrational phase of Washington's Russophobic policy is. They are trying to find rational explanations for this fact that looks simply irrational. Bolton is trying to explain his own administration's madness with insanity of other people," the director of the Institute of Political Studies concluded.
The deputy head of the Council of the Russian Diplomats Association, Andrey Baklanov, in turn, noted that current situation in Russian-U.S. relations is unique. "We have always proceeded from the fact that the U.S. president is not a completely independent figure. Previously, the U.S. ruling circles managed to reach internal compromises and give the president an opportunity to pursue the foreign policy - and now this traditional American scheme has crumbled. President Trump is the mouthpiece of financial and economic American military circles, but he does not represent interests of another powerful group which has completely different views on foreign policy," he explained.
"First of all, it means that it's not the right time to develop long-term agreements with the United States. Consequently, our line should be to somehow correct this completely unhealthy situation. This means more active work in the area of public, professional and scientific organizations, organizing a dialogue between the intelligentsia of the two countries," Andrei Baklanov stressed.
"Since Trump, in order to reinforce his authority, is inclined to act very hard from time to time, a tough answer must be given in response. American politicians are trying to show that each of the parties is a big guardian of U.S. interests, but both of them do not consider interests of the rest world, in particular, of Russia. This line must be stopped," the diplomat urged.
