Trump Urged to Maintain Sanctions Against Russia

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin may discuss sanctions imposed on Kremlin over Ukraine conflicts when the two leaders have their first telephone conversation on Saturday (28 January).

Vice-President Mike Pence was expected to join the call, but not others that Trump planned Saturday with the leaders of Japan, Germany, France and Australia. In the early fall of 2016, discussions in the Russian public space about the possibility of war with the U.S. started for the first time since the Cold War.

The president has vowed to strengthen relations with the Kremlin despite allegations from the U.S. intelligence community that Russian Federation tried to interfere in the USA president election to benefit Mr Trump. “Now, I don’t know that I’m going to get along with Vladimir Putin”, he said.

Russia’s security chief, Nikolai Patrushev, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying he had high hopes for the call.

Earlier Kellyanne Conway, a senior advisor to the president, told Fox News that sanctions would be “under discussion” during the call. Former President Barack Obama ordered another round of sanctions in late December over Russian cyber attacks and election interference. The new penalties add to existing USA sanctions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, which have damaged Russia’s economy but only limited impact on Putin’s behaviour.

USA lawmakers from both parties, and others including Trump Cabinet picks, have raised alarms or at least questioned his softer approach to Russian Federation. However, Russia said it would be too early to discuss “substantive” issues over the first call.

The planned telephone call between the two leaders has raised nervousness in Europe about the possibility of Mr Trump offering to ease United States sanctions against Russian Federation.

Merkel – who is running for a fourth term in office later this year and faces criticism from political opponents over her refugee policy – declined to comment on Trump’s remarks.

Mr Trump refused to rule out dropping sanctions at a press conference with Theresa May, the British prime minister on Friday.

Since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014, Kremlin-backed media have spent much of their time criticizing the United States and accusing it of trying to undermine Moscow.

They had also agreed to stay in regular contact and had both said they wanted each other’s nation to flourish, the Kremlin said.

The debate over USA sanctions on Russian Federation is taking center stage.

Attention will also be on Trump’s plans to improve US cybersecurity in the week ahead. “But Russia’s hurting very badly right now because of sanctions, but I think something can happen that a lot of people are gonna benefit”.

Russian ties with the United States and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members experienced a record low during the Obama administration, mainly due to the Crimea issue, the Ukrainian crisis and the hacking accusations.

A German government source said relations with Mr Putin and the European Union would dominate the conversation with chancellor Mrs Merkel, who has been publicly cool towards Mr Trump.