PRESS RELEASE
Russian Response To Trump Address to Congress
March 1, 2017 (EIRNS)—President Trump, during his address to the U.S. Congress last night, did not explicitly mention Russia by name. The closest he came was to say: "America is willing to find new friends, and to forge new partnerships, where shared interests align." The response from the Kremlin was one of patience. "No, it was no surprise" that Trump didn’t mention Russia, said Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov, this morning, reports Tass. "He [Trump] is president of the United States of America, so it is natural that he tackles the American issues," Peskov said, adding that in Russia "Putin tackles the Russian issues." "This is completely normal," the Kremlin spokesman said.
"Of course, [Moscow and Washington] have some common interests, there are also differences and opposing views," Peskov continued.
"In his opinion, this is ‘a normal practice.’ We have heard President Trump make various statements; we are waiting with patience for some actions to follow words, so that we could understand where we are at,"
he added.
In terms of areas of common interest, Peskov especially stressed anti-terrorism cooperation.
"Cooperation in the war on terror comes first, this is what Putin and Trump discussed in their telephone conversation when Putin called Trump to congratulate him on his inauguration,"
Peskov said. According to him, "everyone is likely to agree that all countries should cooperate in order to facilitate the fight against terrorism."
"In any case, it is impossible to effectively combat terrorism if the most powerful countries, such as the U.S. and Russia, do not cooperate,"
he said.
Alexei Pushkov, member of the Federation Council, said that Trump’s speech "stood out" for not being aggressive toward Moscow and having a "balanced tone."
"Trump’s performance in Congress stood out due to self-restraint, balanced tone and absence of vicious nonsense toward Russia that was common for [former President] Obama,"
Pushkov tweeted. Pushkov also mocked the Democrats for complaining about Trump’s policy towards Russia.
"Democrats accuse Trump of ignoring the ‘Russian threat.’ This was all that Obama and [Hillary] Clinton thought about.... Didn’t help them during the election,"
he tweeted.
