US congressmen asked Trump to cancel meeting with Putin

US congressmen sent a letter to Donald Trump, suggesting that he cancel a bilateral summit scheduled for July 16 with Vladimir Putin. The reason is yesterday's accusations by the US Department of Justice against 12 Russian military intelligence officers who were accused of hacking Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters in the 2016 elections.

US reaction to allegations against GRU officers

• Trump on his Twitter account blamed ex-President Barack Obama for the inaction: “The story of the 12 Russians that you heard yesterday happened during the administration of [Barack] Obama, not Trump. Why didn't they [the Obama administration] do anything about it, especially when it became known that the FBI briefed President Obama [of interference] in September, before the election?" In another tweet , the president asked why the FBI hadn't taken control of the DNC server that the Russians had hacked.
• The White House made no mention of Russia in its commentary on yesterday's accusations: “The allegations made do not contain any allegations of the knowing participation [in the hack] of any of the members of the campaign and that the hack influenced the outcome of the election. The conclusions presented are consistent with what we have been saying throughout this time.” At the same time, the White House did not comment on how the allegations could affect preparations for the meeting with Putin, but said that the meeting would not be cancelled.
• Members of the Democratic Party (among them Chuck Schumer of New York and Nancy Pelosi of California) called on the president to cancel the meeting with Putin in protest. According to Schumer, Trump should cancel the Helsinki summit and wait until Russia takes demonstrative and transparent measures to prove that it will not interfere in elections in the future. “A happy handshake with Vladimir Putin amid these accusations would be a blow to our democracy,” he said. Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats sent a letter to Trump stating, "Unfortunately, due to your ongoing sympathy for Vladimir Putin, your conflict of interest, and your attacks on our close allies, we are not sure you can negotiate. with the Russian leader, and therefore we urge you to cancel the meeting.”
• A similar position is shared by Republican Senator John McCain . He said Trump should cancel the meeting unless he is "ready to blame [election interference] on Putin." “President Trump must be prepared to speak to Putin from a position of strength and show that he will have to pay a heavy price for his continued aggression against the United States and democracies around the world.” once again According to the senator, the latest accusations complete the picture and prove that the Kremlin has a "massive plan" aimed at sowing discord among American voters, attacking the 2016 election and undermining faith in democracy.
• Congressmen believe that it is no longer enough just to ask Putin about whether Russia interfered in the elections. Republican Senator Jeff Flake said that Putin should not be asked questions, but confronted with the fact that it was his country that interfered in the American elections.
• John Podesta , Hillary Clinton's chief of staff, said that during the summit, Trump should ask Putin to bring the 12 accused GRU officers to American justice.
• Michael McFaul , former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, noted: “President Trump now has an obligation to put pressure on President Putin for violating American sovereignty during the 2016 presidential election... These GRU officers work for Putin. They have just been indicted by US authorities. If Trump avoids the issue, Putin will see it as a sign of weakness.”

Russia's reaction

• The Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement, denied Russia's involvement in interference in the American elections: “Washington is doing its best to revive the old “canard” about the imaginary “Russian interference in the American presidential elections of 2016” ... From the heap of conspiratorial schemes that they try to impress the American layman, it does not follow at all that they [12 employees of the GRU] belong to this department and involvement in cyber-hacking. And the very assertion about illegal penetration into the computer network of the US Democratic Party is not supported by anything ... It is obvious that the purpose of this stuffing is to spoil the atmosphere before the Russian-American summit.”
• also The Kremlin denies Russian interference in the US elections. And Vladimir Putin's foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said that there would most likely not be a joint statement by Trump and Putin following the meeting in Helsinki at all - of course, without linking it in any way to American accusations.

What Trump has said about Russian interference in elections before

• Prior to the indictment, Trump had already commented on the possibility of discussing the 2016 presidential campaign at a meeting with Putin in Helsinki. At a press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May, the American president said he would definitely ask Putin if Russia interfered in the election, while Trump stressed that there was not much point in this, since the Russian president is unlikely to admit it.
• After a brief meeting with Putin in Vietnam on the sidelines of the APEC summit, Trump noted that he had asked the Russian president the relevant question, and added that he believed in the sincerity of Putin's answer.
• Trump has been extremely skeptical about the investigation into Russian interference in the US election, repeatedly calling the work of Special Counsel Robert Mueller a "witch hunt."

Context

• On March 15, 2018, the US Treasury published a sanctions list that included 19 Russians and 5 organizations that allegedly interfered in the US elections. In particular, the Internet Research Agency, also known as the “troll factory”, fell under the sanctions. Most of those who were sanctioned worked for this company (you can read more about who these people are here ). Five Russians from this list, including businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, as well as two of his companies (Concord Management and Concord Catering), the FSB of Russia and the GRU have already been sanctioned earlier.
• On April 6, the United States imposed new sanctions against 38 legal entities and individuals. Initially, they were announced as sanctions "for interference in elections." But in fact, the motivation turned out to be broader: the sanctions were imposed for a certain set of "malicious steps."
• What exactly is the latest accusation of the US Department of Justice against Russian intelligence officers can be read here .
• The meeting with Putin will be for Trump the main test of his strength and readiness to protect the integrity of the elections (which he still has not done), Bloomberg emphasizes.

What do I get from this?

Until yesterday, it seemed that the meeting between Putin and Trump would not bring immediate results, but could become a prologue for the beginning of the restoration of relations and, in the end, the lifting of sanctions. Now the cards are confused. Against the backdrop of the first official accusations of Russian election hacking, Trump will have no room for maneuver - even if his words about wanting to befriend Putin were sincere.

Liana Faizova