Trump will have the same foreign policy direction as Putin

(Baonghean.vn) - The Kremlin on November 10 affirmed that US President-elect Donald Trump will have a foreign policy direction that is "extraordinarily close" to that of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is the basis for Russians to hope that the not-so-good relationship with the US can gradually improve.

US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: BBC.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking in New York, said he saw incredible similarities between the two men's foreign policy ideas, and that this meant there was a solid basis for launching a meaningful dialogue between Moscow and Washington.

Peskov, who is in the US to take part in a chess tournament, said he was struck by the similarity of parts of Mr Trump's victory speech to a speech Mr Putin gave in southern Russia last month.

Both men said they would put national interests first, but they would also be open to developing relations with other countries, depending on how prepared other countries were to deepen ties.

“They (Putin and Trump) aim at the same main foreign policy principles and that is hard to believe,” Peskov commented on Russia's state television Channel One.

“It is really remarkable how similar they are when it comes to their foreign policy orientations. And that may be a good basis for our measured optimism that they will at least be able to initiate a dialogue to begin to clear the obstacles in bilateral relations with Russia.”

However, now that Moscow and Washington are at odds over Syria, Ukraine and NATO, Peskov cautioned that it will take a long time for relations to return to a high level, as they have deteriorated so much.

“It takes years to achieve an atmosphere of mutual trust. It is not possible to simply say that there is trust, especially after the serious damage to relations in recent years,” he said.

Peskov also told TASS news agency that Putin is willing to show flexibility in restoring relations that he himself wants to improve, but that flexibility must be measured and that Putin needs to see a “give and take” attitude from the United States.

Peskov made the remarks after one of Russia's most senior diplomats told the Interfax news agency on the morning of November 10 that the Russian government had been in contact with members of Trump's political team during the US election campaign and knew most of his confidants.

Thu Giang

(According to Reuters)