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US-Russian ties will continue to get worse from here: Analyst

Saturday, 27 October 2018 7:32 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 29 October 2018 4:12 AM ]

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin

Relationships between Russia and the United States will continue to get worse from here, American political analyst James Jatras says.

Jatras, a former Senate foreign policy adviser in Washington, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday after the White House formally invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington in early 2019, an idea that was put on hold in July amid anger in the US over the prospect of such a summit.

The invitation was announced Friday by US National Security Adviser John Bolton during a news conference in Tbilisi, Georgia.

“We have invited President Putin to Washington,” Bolton said at the news conference.

Bolton held meetings with Putin and other Kremlin officials in Moscow to discuss the US withdrawing from a Cold-War era nuclear weapons treaty.

PressTV-Trump invites Putin to White House meeting

The White House has formally invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington.

“Any time there’s prospect that President Trump and President Putin might meet for a summit, I think it is encouraging. I think we have a long way to go to before we restore any kind of normal relationships between Russia and the United States. And honestly I am sad to say I don’t think it going to happen,” Jatras said.

“With the US prepared to pull out from the INF treaty, with increased pressure put on Russia with sanctions, with maneuvers in the Arctic in what’s military exercises and the arming of Ukraine, I think it’s still a full-course press from the Washington establishment against Russia,” he added.

“And I think Mr. Trump’s team is deliberately leading the two presidents without much to talk about or Russia simply presenting a fait accompli. And things will continue to get worse from here. I hope I am wrong about that but I am not at all encouraged,” he concluded.

Trump held a summit with Putin in July in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, and then issued Putin an invitation to visit Washington in the autumn.

It was not immediately clear if Putin had accepted the invitation.

Trump’s earlier invitation to Putin sparked outrage in Washington, including from lawmakers in Trump’s Republican Party, who argued that Putin was an adversary not worthy of a White House visit.

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