Billionaire Michael Bloomberg may become a candidate for US President. What does he think about Russia?

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week announced his official entry into the US Democratic Party. This may indicate that the 76-year-old billionaire is going to run in the 2020 presidential election, write Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal .

Details

• “At key moments in American history, one of the two parties stood up to defend our Constitution against the threats facing it. Two years ago, at the Democratic National Convention, I warned about these threats. Today [October 10] I rejoined the Democratic Party, of which I have been a member for most of my life. I did this because we need Democrats to maintain the system of checks and balances that our country needs so much now, ”Blumberg explained his decision. According to the NYT, the newly minted Democrat meant the need for an opposition that could control President Trump.

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• presidential ambitions. Bloomberg repeatedly considered running for president in 2008, 2012 and 2016. In September this year, he told The New York Times that if he decided to run in the 2020 election, he would run for the Democratic nomination. “Right now I'm too far away from what the Republican Party is doing,” he said, adding that he would think about the presidential campaign after the November midterm elections to Congress.
• Businessman and politician. Bloomberg is the founder and owner of Bloomberg, the parent company of Bloomberg News. He was the Republican mayor of New York twice, in 2001 and 2005. In 2007, he left the party and in 2009 again became the mayor of the city as an independent candidate.
• Democrat support. Bloomberg left the Democratic Party in 2001 to run for the Republican nomination for mayor of New York. But this decision did not prevent him from supporting the Democrats in the future. During the 2016 presidential election, he campaigned for Hillary Clinton. In 2018, Bloomberg became the party's largest single donor, providing at least $80 million (according to the NYT) to support the Democrats during the elections to the House of Representatives of the Congress and about $20 million (according to the WP) in the elections to the US Senate. In addition, Bloomberg personally accompanies Democratic candidates on trips to different states and participates in speeches. During the current election campaign, he visited states that could become key in his possible future presidential race, the NYT notes.
• Political Views. Like most Democrats, Bloomberg advocates limiting the right to bear arms and supports various environmental initiatives. At the same time, he criticized the Democrats' policy towards big business and spoke about the need for its deregulation. Bloomberg also expressed doubts about the validity of some of the accusations of sexual harassment and stated that only the court can confirm their accuracy.
• Relationship with Donald Trump. Speaking at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Bloomberg said, "Donald Trump's most prominent feature is his hypocrisy."

Attitude towards Russia

in his publication Prior to Donald Trump's first bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Bloomberg published an op-ed titled "The White House's Foreign Policy Should Be Driven by American Values." In it, he essentially presented his vision of relations between Russia and the United States.

• Bloomberg did not support the very fact of the meeting in Helsinki. He wrote that it was beneficial to Putin, but he doubted that the United States could benefit from it.
• Bloomberg calls Putin in the article "a strong man who annexed the territory of his neighbors, destabilized the situation in the US allies in Eastern Europe, provoked war crimes in Syria and interfered in US elections."
• Sanctions against Russia are working, and they should not be lifted, the billionaire is sure. The imposed restrictions, in his opinion, have already led to the expected result - the deterioration of the Russian economy even in the face of rising oil prices. The situation, in his opinion, is aggravated by the protests of the population against the pension reform.
• If the US stops arms sales or promises that it will never consider NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia, it would be a serious mistake, Bloomberg said. In his opinion, this will undermine confidence in the US security guarantees for the Baltic countries and Poland.
• He also disapproves of Russia's policy towards Syria. Russia, contrary to its statements, is not pushing Assad to restore peace in the country, instead supporting the aggression of the Syrian authorities against civilians, the businessman believes.
• But on one issue, Bloomberg does share Trump's position. He also believes that European countries should refuse to support the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which will become another tool for Russia to influence Europe.

Liana Faizova