Is Russia manipulating the Trump administration?

Some Pentagon officials believe that Russia is testing the reaction of the new US President Donald Trump administration with a series of 'strange' moves.

US President Donald Trump (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Illustration photo: Getty

Recently, Russia deployed a cruise missile banned under the treaty between Russia and the US, sent a reconnaissance ship near the Virginia coast, and "teased" US warships in the Black Sea. Commenting on these moves, an anonymous US defense official said: "They seem to want to test the new administration." Another official also said; "Russia is doing strange things to see how the new administration will react."

These developments raise the question of how the new White House boss will deal with Russia after having given "winged" and even "defended" words to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

For his part, Mr. Trump rejected the view that Russia was “testing” him and said that recent moves were due to Putin believing that Trump was being constrained and incapable of negotiating with Russia.

Conversely, US defense officials emphasize that Russia can "twist the arm" of any new US administration regardless of the country's commander-in-chief's negotiating ability.

An official pointed out that the recent incident of a Russian reconnaissance ship approaching the US coast of Virginia was likely planned before the US presidential election because the ship had left port near Murmansk on the Arctic Ocean in mid-December. Analysts also agreed that Moscow's recent moves were to "test" the reaction of the new US administration, and Russia had reason to do so because it believed that bilateral relations between Russia and the US could warm up under President Trump.

“They are trying to see where we stand. Moscow is testing to see where it ranks in the White House’s eyes,” said Magnus Nordenman, director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

Joerg Forbig, an Eastern Europe expert at the Marshall Fund, said Russia's latest moves were "almost certainly timed to take place during the transition to a new government" and that Russia would continue to conduct these types of probing actions.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media on February 17: “Over the past months, we have always emphasized that we should never have excessive illusions, so we have nothing to be disappointed about.”

On the US side, according to expert Nordenman, President Trump's administration may have different options to respond to these actions of Russia, either "ignoring", or protesting through diplomatic channels, or sending more troops to allied countries near Russia. President Trump, meanwhile, said at a press conference last week: "I will not tell you anything about how I will respond. I will not reveal the military's response. You asked what I will do with the Russian reconnaissance ship, I will not say, but I hope that I will not have to do anything." In another statement, Mr. Trump said, cooperation with Russia is "a great thing".

According to Dan Tri