United States Plans to Retain Sanctions On Russia

On Sunday, June 5, President Trump’s ambassador Nikki Haley said that the United States intended to “keep [its] sanctions strong and tough” on Russia, responding to their actions in Ukraine—although it is reported that the White House is considering easing those sanctions on Russia, Haley says that Trump is firm in his decision.

She adds, “So, everything I know is that we have said we’re going to keep our sanctions strong and tough when it comes to the issue in Ukraine.  I’ve said that publicly.  We’ll continue to say that.”  Not able to confirm a report that Jared Kushner, a White House adviser, used the Russian embassy to communicate privately with the Kremlin, she noted that she would not have committed the act herself.

            She says, “What I can tell you is, no, I wouldn’t do that.  But at the same time, I’m not in that inner circle in the administration.  I do my job at the United Nations, and Jared continues to do his job there at the White House.  And until we see facts, it’s hard to respond to something like that.  Addressing the subject of the Kremlin and Russia, Haley says that the United States is “going [to] continue to call them out as we need to.”

The United States, having had its differences with Russia in the past, is attempting to bridge the gap and focus on issues at hand, such as that in Syria.  Haley explains, “At the same time, we are trying to see if we can have talks with them on how to better come in line in the Syrian conflict.  We’re working with them on counterterrorism.  But if we see Russia doing anything wrong, we’re going to tell them.”

She adds, “I can tell you the international community is concerned about Russia’s meddling within all of their elections.  But they’re concerned about Russia for a lot of reasons.  And so we’ll continue to keep our eye on them.  And so we’ll continue to keep our eye on them.  And when we can work with them, we want to try and do that.  But when we can’t, we’re going to hold the line.”

It seems that for now, the United States is open to cooperation with Russia.  If Russia cooperates, then all is well, but if Russia starts to fall out of line, then the White House will proceed with stronger sanctions on the nation.