Tag Archives: Vladimir Putin

The New York Times reports: There are few things that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia desires more than the weakening of NATO, the military alliance among the United States, Europe and Canada that has deterred Soviet and Russian aggression for 70 years. Last year, President Trump suggested a move tantamount to destroying NATO: the withdrawal of the United States. …

The Daily Mail reports: Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to Donald Trump, says the president shielded a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2017, because his administration was ‘suffering from a great number’ of leaks at that time. Conway told reporters at the White House on Monday that the White House that she had not talked with the president …

NBC News reports: Before Donald Trump’s lawyer was pitching the Kremlin on building a Trump Tower in Moscow, the future president was negotiating to put his name on a building in a separate glitzy real estate development outside the Russian capital. The Russians dubbed the proposed suburban development “Manhattan,” and a “Trump Tower” would have been its centerpiece, according to …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials, current and former U.S. officials said. Trump did so …

Reuters reports: WikiLeaks on Sunday advised journalists not to report 140 different “false and defamatory” statements about its founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 2012. “There is a pervasive climate of inaccurate claims about WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, including purposeful fabrications planted in large and otherwise ‘reputable’ media outlets,” Wikileaks …

Because the last one went so well. For Putin. Reuters reports: Donald Trump in a New Year letter on Sunday that Moscow was ready for dialogue on a “wide-ranging agenda”, the Kremlin said following a series of failed attempts to hold a new summit. At the end of November, Trump abruptly canceled a planned meeting with Putin on the sidelines …

The Moscow Times reports: The speaker of Russia’s parliament raised the possibility of changing the constitution as speculation grows that the Kremlin is considering ways to allow President Vladimir Putin to remain in power beyond the end of his current term, when current law requires him to step down. The comments from Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma and …

The Daily Beast reports: The Mattis departure is being cheered in Russia. Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Russian Parliament, has said that “the departure of James Mattis is a positive signal for Russia, since Mattis was far more hawkish on Russia and China than Donald Trump.” State TV host Olga Skabeeva surmised that Americans are …

The Guardian reports: Offering public support that the embattled British prime minister may rather do without, Putin said he “understood” May’s position in “fighting for this Brexit”. “The referendum was held,” the Russian president said from Moscow during a press conference shown on national television. “What can she do? She has to fulfill the will of the people expressed in …

CNN reports: A newly obtained document shows President Donald Trump signed a letter of intent to move forward with negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Russia, despite his attorney Rudy Giuliani claiming on Sunday the document was never signed. CNN’s Chris Cuomo obtained a copy of the signed letter of intent that set the stage for negotiations for Trump …

The New York Times reports: The Russian influence campaign on social media in the 2016 election made an extraordinary effort to target African-Americans, used an array of tactics to try to suppress turnout among Democratic voters and unleashed a blizzard of posts on Instagram that rivaled or exceeded its Facebook operations, according to a report produced for the Senate Intelligence …

The New York Post reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday claimed none of his intelligence chiefs knows “anything about” alleged Russian spy Maria Butina. The 30-year-old grad student is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to conspiracy for working with a GOP operative and a Russian official to establish unofficial lines of communication between US politicians and the Kremlin. But …

ABC News reports: Maria Butina, a 30-year-old Russian gun rights activist who stands accused developing a covert influence operation in the United States, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and cooperate with federal, state and local authorities in any ongoing investigations. She admits, as part of the deal, according to a copy obtained by ABC News that is expected …

Bloomberg reports: Emmanuel Macron successfully dodged cyberattacks and fake news reports that were widely blamed on a Kremlin effort to destabilize his 2017 presidential campaign. Now, with France convulsed by violent protests, the Russians appear to be back – and may be hitting closer to their mark. Among 600 Twitter accounts known to promote Kremlin views, the top hashtag now …

CNN reports: The US has begun making the necessary preparations to sail a warship into the Black Sea, a move that comes amid heightened tensions in the region following Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian ships and detention of Ukrainian sailors. The US military has requested that the State Department notify Turkey of its possible plans to sail a warship into the …

Each one a hacker in a different way, of course. Newsweek reports: Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey said Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman own President Donald Trump and can do whatever they want. The comment was made in a tweet attached to a video of the Russian and Saudi leaders …

CNN reports: Trump on Thursday abruptly canceled his meeting with Putin, blaming Russia’s refusal to release Ukrainian navy ships and sailors seized during a maritime clash on Sunday. But on Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested the “US domestic political situation” was the real reason the meeting was spiked, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. “Was the …

The Hill reports: The Wall Street Journal issued a correction on Thursday after it accidentally referred to the Russian president as “Vladimir Trump.” “Vladimir Putin is president of Russia. An editing mistake misidentified Mr. Putin in an earlier version of this article. (Nov. 29),” the publication noted at the bottom of an article reporting President Trump’s cancellation of a planned …

Buzzfeed News reports: President Donald Trump’s company planned to give a $50 million penthouse at Trump Tower Moscow to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the company negotiated the luxury real estate development during the 2016 campaign, according to four people, one of them the originator of the plan. Two US law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed News that Michael Cohen, Trump’s …

Newsweek reports: Moscow has said that President Donald Trump’s cancellation of a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin would give the latter more time to attend other talks with world leaders. “We are flying to Argentina. So far, we have only seen the tweet and the media [on Trump cancelling the meeting with Putin]. We have no official information,” …