Tag: Washington

India to send a team to address US concerns over Russian weapons, says report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India will send a high level technical team to the US to understand Washington’s concerns regarding country’s cooperation with Russia in defense sector, reported The Economic Times.

According to the report, US is extremely concerned about how India is planning to secure and operate both US and Russian weapons at the same time. The US is particularly concerned about its weapons being exposed to Russia’s sophisticated S-400 air defense system, said the report.

While no direct comments were available of the concerned parties in the report, it is expected that the team whose visit precedes the 2+2 dialogue, will try to address concerns of the US, added the report.

As per the report, this is particularly important as India is expecting a US waiver under the new CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act) to purchase S-400 from Russia.

The development comes as India has started slowly to shed its dependence towards Moscow in the defense sector. This in turn has led to higher co-operation with west, particularly the US.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Despite summit criticism, Donald Trump looks to next Putin meeting

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed forces within the United States on Thursday for marring what they called the success of their first summit, with Trump saying he looked forward to their second meeting.

Trump, struggling to quiet an uproar over his failure to confront Putin over Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US election at Monday’s summit in Helsinki, fell back on one of his favorite targets, the news media, while US lawmakers considered fresh legislative action targeting Moscow.

The Republican president accused the media of distorting comments in which he gave credence to Putin’s denials of election interference despite the conclusions of the American intelligence community about Moscow’s conduct.

“The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media,” Trump, who has faced criticism from lawmakers in both parties after the summit, wrote on Twitter.

“I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace, North Korea and more,” Trump said.

In Moscow, Putin said “powerful” US forces were trying to sabotage the summit’s achievements, but said he and Trump had begun to improve US-Russia ties anyway.

“It was successful overall and led to some useful agreements. Of course, let’s see how events will develop further,” Putin said in remarks to Russian diplomats from around the world, without disclosing the nature of the agreements to which he referred.

“We see that there are forces in the United States that are prepared to casually sacrifice Russian-US relations, to sacrifice them for their ambitions in an internal political battle in the United States,” Putin said.

Putin did not name names, but spoke of US politicians who put their “narrow party interests” above the best interests of the United States and were powerful enough to be able to foist their questionable “stories” on millions of Americans.

Conflicting Statements

Republican and Democratic US lawmakers grappled with Trump’s conflicting statements about the summit as well as what they did not know: exactly what the two leaders discussed in their private meeting and what agreements, if any, were reached.

Republicans voted down a motion offered by Democrats in the House of Representatives intelligence committee to subpoena the American interpreter who witnessed Trump’s meeting with Putin.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he asked two Senate panels to recommend additional action aimed at preventing future Russian election meddling and hold hearings on an existing Russia sanctions law.

American intelligence agencies last year announced their conclusion that Russia carried out a campaign of hacking and propaganda targeting the 2016 US election in an attempt to sow discord, disparage Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and aid Trump’s candidacy. Putin has denied any such meddling.

US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen publicly reaffirmed their confidence in the findings after the Helsinki meeting.

In a bill gaining momentum in the Senate, sanctions targeting key Russian economic sectors would kick in swiftly if US authorities determine Moscow ever again interferes in an American election.

A number of US lawmakers rejected a Russian proposal, which the White House said it was considering, to question in the United States Americans sought by the Kremlin for “illegal activities,” including former US ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul and London-based financier Bill Browder.

“I don’t think there is one member of Congress, on either side of the aisle, that believes it is remotely smart to require our former ambassador, Mr. Browder or any other person to submit to interviews by Putin’s government,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said. “Because there is no rule of law, as I said, in Russia. There is just rule of Putin.”

Democratic US Representative Eric Swalwell said if Trump allowed Russians to question McFaul, “you can count on me and millions of others to swiftly make you an ex-president.”

Republican Senator Marco Rubio urged the White House on Twitter to “publicly & unequivocally rule it out.”

McFaul, ambassador to Russia under Democratic former President Barack Obama and a critic of both Trump and Putin, expressed deep concern that the White House failed to defend him.

US prosecutors have offered mounting evidence concerning Russian election meddling. Special Counsel Robert Mueller secured an indictment last Friday charging 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking Democratic computer networks in 2016 as part of a wide-ranging conspiracy.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US President Donald Trump’s China focus is affecting ties with India, says Timothy Roemer

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US President Donald Trump’s focus on China and escalating trade war is affecting the ties with India, said Timothy Roemer, former US ambassador to India, adding that the relationship with New Delhi is under-leveraged by the administration right now.

In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, Roemer said he expects that trade differences between New Delhi and Washington won’t blow up into problems that may either derail or impact the good relationship between US and India.

“I know they want to pay attention in North Korea. I know there is a meeting coming up between President Trump and Vladimir Putin is important, but still, they can put the time and the effort to implement the strategy and continue to deepen this relationship with one of our most important partners in India,” Roemer said.

2+2 Dialogue

However, US was found in a challenging position with regards to 2+2 dialogue and are in talks with people in Trump and Modi administration to change the status quo, he said.

Roemer further added that the US is not only delaying the 2+2 talks but also not putting enough priority to resolve some of the economic relationships diplomatically.

Earlier, US scrapped two high-level talks with India, which was meant to focus on strengthening strategic, security and defence cooperation.

Commenting on New Delhi’s role in the world economy, Roemer said, “India continues to be one of the most robust economies in the world, one of the fastest growing economies if not the fastest, maybe the third largest economy in the world.”

Ties with Bush and Obama administration

Talking on relationship with earlier US government’s with New Delhi, he said the George Bush and the Barack Obama administration, which he has worked, was deeply valued the strategic partnership with India and was putting time to implement initiatives in defence, energy, intelligence, counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, homeland security and on economic issues.

US-China Trade War

On the trade dispute, Roemer said US President is going hard on Beijing on trade issues with $375 billion deficit between US and China.

He said the US President is also pursuing trade provisions on tariffs on aluminum and steel, intellectual property theft and economic secrets.

US officials accuse China of building its emerging industrial dominance by stealing the “crown jewels” of American technological know-how through cyber-theft, forced transfers of intellectual property and state-sponsored corporate acquisitions.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Moscow and Washington strike deal to hold Putin-Trump summit

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Moscow and Washington struck a deal on Wednesday to hold a summit soon between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, a move likely to worry some US allies and draw a fiery reaction from some of Trump’s critics at home.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, speaking after Putin met US National Security Adviser John Bolton in the Kremlin, said the summit would take place in a mutually convenient third country and that several more weeks were needed to prepare for it.

“This meeting has been planned for a long time,” Ushakov told reporters. “It has enormous importance for Russia and America, but it (also) has huge importance for the whole international situation. I think it will be the main international event of the summer.”

Such a summit is likely to irritate US allies who want to isolate Putin, such as Britain, or who are concerned about Trump’s attitude towards Russia. It is also likely to go down badly among foreign and domestic critics who question Trump’s commitment to NATO and fret over his desire to rebuild relations with Moscow even as Washington tightens sanctions.

Ushakov said Moscow and Washington would announce the time and place of the summit on Thursday, but that Putin and Trump were likely to hold talks for several hours when they met and hold a joint news conference.

He spoke of a possible joint declaration at the summit on improving US-Russia relations and international security and said the Kremlin was pleased with how Bolton’s visit had gone.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov might also meet his US counterpart Mike Pompeo, he added.

The summit is expected to take place after Trump attends a NATO summit and visits Britain next month. A senior US official said on Tuesday that Finland’s capital Helsinki was being considered as a location.

Bolton, a lifelong hawk who warned last year before his own appointment that Washington negotiated with Putin’s Russia at its peril, was due to give a news conference at around 1600 GMT, where he might provide further details.

Trump congratulated Putin by phone in March after the Russian leader’s landslide re-election victory and said the two would meet soon.

Since then, already poor ties between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated further over the conflict in Syria and the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain which sparked big diplomatic expulsions in both countries.

Washington and Moscow are also at odds over Ukraine and allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, something Russia denies.

Low Expectations

Expectations for the outcome of any Putin-Trump summit are therefore low, even though Trump said before he was elected that he wanted to improve battered US-Russia ties.

A special prosecutor in the United States has indicted Russian firms and individuals for meddling in the presidential election to benefit Trump, and is investigating whether anyone in Trump’s campaign helped the Russian effort. Trump denies wrongdoing and calls the investigation a “witch hunt”.

Putin told Bolton on Wednesday that US-Russia relations were not “in the best shape,” something he said he put down to domestic political tussling in the United States.

“…But your visit to Moscow gives us hope that we can at least take the first steps to restore full-scale relations between our states,” he said. “Russia never sought confrontation.”

Aware that his own visit and the summit will draw criticism from some quarters, Bolton stressed the importance of talking to each other despite disagreements.

“Even in earlier days, when our countries had differences our leaders and their advisers met and I think that was good for both countries, good for stability in the world. President Trump feels very strongly on that subject,” said Bolton.

Saying he wanted to find areas where the two countries could agree, Bolton also praised Russia’s hosting of the 2018 soccer World Cup, while Putin congratulated the United States on winning the right to jointly host the 2026 tournament.

Ushakov, the Kremlin aide, said that the subject of sanctions had not come up on Wednesday and named four main summit themes: Strategic nuclear stability, the fight against international terrorism, regional issues like the Ukraine and Syria conflicts, and US-Russia ties.

The United States initially sanctioned Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its backing for a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine. Subsequent sanctions have punished Moscow for what Washington has called its malign behaviour and alleged meddling in US politics.

Some Trump critics say Russia has not significantly altered its behaviour since 2014 and should therefore not be given the prestige that they believe a summit would confer.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow