WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for not quickly hitting back at Washington for the punitive measures imposed over alleged interference in the November election.
“Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!” Trump tweeted yesterday.
Earlier, the Russian leader ruled out any immediate tit-for-tat expulsions of American officials in the row over what Washington says were “efforts to harm US interests” in connection with the November 8 election won by the Republican.
Putin’s own foreign ministry had recommended that he eject 35 American officials to counterbalance US President Barack Obama’s move on Thursday to expel 35 Russian intelligence operatives and shut down two Russian compounds in the US.
Trump, who succeeds Obama on January 20, has repeatedly praised Putin and made a number of cabinet picks of people with ties to Russia.
The FBI and CIA have concluded that Russian intelligence agencies oversaw the hacking and leaking of emails from Democratic Party organizations under Kremlin orders this year in order to benefit Trump’s campaign against Hillary Clinton.
In the past, the president-elect has ridiculed US intelligence about Russia’s cyber-meddling, saying it was not clear who conducted the attacks.
He has long treated such accusations as a thinly veiled effort by a Democratic president to delegitimize a Republican victory.
On Wednesday, he issued a call for the country to “move on to bigger and better things,” but said he would meet with US intelligence leaders next week to be “updated on the facts of this situation.”
While Trump has already received intelligence briefings about the election and substantial evidence is in the public sphere, his pledge to meet with intelligence chiefs could provide a face-saving opportunity to further soften his stance.
Also next week, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper will appear before lawmakers to testify about foreign cyber threats to the United States – a possible opportunity for him to expand on Russia’s activities. –AFP
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