THERE was a time when the Russian government had high hopes for its relationship with Donald Trump. Those hopes had already faded in recent weeks, as Mr Trump’s friendly rhetoric during the presidential campaign was swept away by American investigations of Kremlin interference in the election. Mr Trump's decision to attack a Syrian government airfield on April 7th dispelled the last of the illusions. “This step by Washington is causing significant damage to Russian-American relations, which are already in a deplorable state,” Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday.
Russia’s reaction was predictably angry. The Kremlin called the missile strikes “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international rights”. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, compared them to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the foreign ministry appealed to the United Nations for an emergency Security Council meeting. In Moscow’s eyes, the attacks mark a return to an American policy of interventionism and “regime change”, which Russia blames for bringing chaos to the Middle East. On Friday, Russian state television aired a long segment...Continue reading
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