Russian Security Council Notes Trump's Arrival

I wrote the following for my comment to today’s Moon of Alabama article, “Trump And Ukraine Should Concede.” How I see that situation was again made clear in my note from yesterday that also cited the one I composed back in November after the election was well over.

Today, Russia's Security Council met and released part of its discussion, which is very rare and was clearly meant for those with prying eyes:

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon.

Today we will talk about some points related to the regions that are sensitive to us, with the development of the situation in these regions.

Sergei Viktorovich, what is happening in the States now? As I understand it, today the inauguration of the President-elect should take place again. You are welcome.

Sergey Lavrov: Colleagues,

Indeed, the reports of the world media, social networks are overflowing with information from Washington since yesterday, when Trump and his team arrived in the capital for today's inauguration, which is scheduled for 20:00 Moscow time. The details are well known, but in parallel with the preparations for this ceremony, speculation, of course, is growing, analytical calculations, forecasts about how this will affect various conflicts in various regions of the world.

There are plenty of these conflicts, including in the Middle East, where the situation, despite the signing of the agreement between Israel and Hamas, does not at all convince that stability has been achieved. Warnings are also heard from one side that Israel is violating the agreements, and Israel is warning Hamas that they are also not fully implementing what they have signed up to.

And, of course, apart from the Gaza Strip itself, the Palestinian problem is not disappearing. We remember how Donald Trump, in his first "coming", promoted a concept that is fundamentally different from the Arab Peace Initiative and involves the normalization of relations between Israel and all Arabs...

Yemen, Libya and Syria, of course, after the events that took place a month ago – all this makes the Middle East and the Middle East a very turbulent region. Let's not forget about Afghanistan, where the Americans are also trying to restore their presence to some extent, using neighboring countries for this, they are thinking about returning their military infrastructure there.

I am saying all this in relation to the policy pursued by the previous administration. Therefore, of course, everyone is wondering what the official approaches promoted by the Trump administration will be. Unofficially, many members of his team, he himself, have repeatedly spoken out both on the Middle East and on the Ukrainian crisis, which Trump considers one of the priorities of his foreign policy activity with an eye to resolving it, make it clear that they understand some aspects of the Russian position, for example, regarding the unacceptability of Ukraine's membership in the North Atlantic Alliance.

But all this, I repeat once again, statements are estimated, "shooting", sounding on the eve of the official entry of the new President into office and the approval of its members Administration.

Therefore, much depends on the United States, primarily due to the fact that the Europeans and Asian allies–-the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand–-are fully guided by the position of the White House, and in this sense, they are waiting to see what this position will be in its final form. But also, of course, developing countries, countries and regions where the United States can play a positive role and can even continue the policy of the previous administration to preserve the potential for conflict in the hope of extracting some benefit from the ongoing crises. At least, this was the policy of the United States for many years under a variety of administrations. Therefore, guessing now is a thankless task.

We are open to contacts. We have repeatedly confirmed this in our answers to relevant questions, with the understanding that we will have serious proposals from our colleagues who at one time froze or even broke off relations with the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin: You mentioned the Middle East. There has indeed been an exchange there and some of the hostages have been released, but among the remaining hostages there is another person with dual citizenship, with Russian citizenship. I would like to ask you through the Foreign Ministry and other colleagues from other agencies to work on this issue, not to forget about it and to do everything to ensure that our citizens are released.

Sergey Lavrov: We are working.

Vladimir Putin: As for the events in the United States Indeed, Donald Trump's inauguration as the 47th President of the United States is taking place in Washington Indeed, the pre-election period was difficult for Mr Trump in all respects: he and even his family members were constantly under severe pressure, and it came to attempts to make an attempt on his life. But he showed courage and won a landslide victory in the election.

And we see statements by the newly elected President of the United States and members of his team about their desire to restore direct contacts with Russia, which were interrupted through no fault of ours by the outgoing administration. We also hear his statements about the need to do everything to prevent a third world war. Of course, we welcome this attitude and congratulate the President-elect of the United States of America on taking office.

I would like to emphasise that we have never refused dialogue, we have always been ready to maintain smooth relations of cooperation with any US administration, and I have said this more than once. We believe that the dialogue will be based on an equal and mutually respectful basis, given the significant role played by our countries on a number of key issues on the global agenda, including strengthening strategic stability and security.

We are also open to dialogue with the new US administration on the Ukrainian conflict. The most important thing here is to eliminate the root causes of the crisis, which we have talked about many times, this is the most important thing. As for the settlement of the situation itself, I want to emphasize again: its goal should not be a brief truce, not some kind of respite for regrouping forces and rearmament in order to continue the conflict, but a long-term peace based on respect for the legitimate interests of all people, all peoples who live in this region. But we, of course, will fight for the interests of Russia, for the interests of the Russian people. This, in fact, is the goal and meaning of the special military operation. [My Emphasis]

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IMO, that was a positive message sent by Putin, while Lavrov emphasized the unknown nature of what Trump will attempt. At the moment, Russia sees the incoming team in a more positive light than Biden's. I've written several articles dealing with the facts Trump faces as he assumes office, my most recent accentuates Medvedev's note that relations of any sort with the Outlaw US Empire aren't needed …

Putin's words demonstrate there's another pole in the spectrum of Russian opinion about the need for relations with the Outlaw US Empire, with both poles based on the overall reality of the geopolitical and geoeconomic situation. Will what is essentially the UK/US Cold War strategy of containing Russia--now Eurasia--be continued by Trump or will some variant be pursued given Congressional attitude and the Empire's very real weaknesses seems to be the pertinent question. An example being the immediate need to raise the debt ceiling or completely abolishing it as Trump desires.

Russia’s door is open, but to gain entry Trump must show that it’s willing to discuss Russia’s fundamental grounds for negotiations, which are contained in the content of Putin’s closing paragraph. China and elsewhere are different issues separate from the problems of US-Russian relations that some see as solvable without the Outlaw US Empire’s participation.

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