Russia, after U.S. meeting on diplomatic row, says ready to retaliate

[webfact]

Russia, after U.S. meeting on diplomatic row, says ready to retaliate

 

National flags of Russia and the U.S. fly at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Files

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday Moscow reserved the right to take retaliatory measures against the United States after a meeting in Washington ended without a deal on returning seized Russian diplomatic property.

 

Barack Obama, then U.S. president, ordered the seizure of two Russian diplomatic compounds and the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats in December over what he said was their involvement in hacking the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign, something Russia flatly denies.

 

Moscow has said a lot would depend on the outcome of a meeting in Washington on Monday between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon who discussed the diplomatic row.

 

But the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday a resolution to the problem had not yet been found.

 

"The Russian side stressed (in the meeting) that if Washington does not remove this and other irritants, including continued obstacles to the work of our diplomatic institutions, we reserve the right to take retaliatory measures based on the principle of reciprocity," the statement said.

 

Russia wanted to resume regular dialogue with the United States about strategic stability too, it said, saying it was up to Washington to make a move on the issue.

 

(Reporting by Anton Kolodyazhny; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-18

[mesquite]

Another mess from Obama that Trump has to clean up.

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, mesquite said:

Another mess from Obama that Trump has to clean up.

I agree Obama should have acted much more aggressively against Russia as soon as he learned they were actively working to influence the election towards trump. He made the calculation that trump would lose anyway and he didn't want to be seen to be "helping" Clinton in that way. Turns out that was a historic mistake. 

Edited July 18, 2017 by Jingthing

[Merzik]

19 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I agree Obama should have acted much more aggressively against Russia as soon as he learned they were actively working to influence the election towards trump. He made the calculation that trump would lose anyway and he didn't want to be seen to be "helping" Clinton in that way. Turns out that was a historic mistake. 

I doubt you have much of a problem with the US working to influence and change goverments all over the world ( including Russia)  Given the bellicose statements of Clinton and her unhinged NeoCon allies toward Russia it is little wonder Russia wanted Trump to prevail. Time Magazine openly stated the US helped the drunken Boris Yeltin get re-elected in 1996. This allowed 4 more years of the mafia oligarchs with connections to the West to plunder Russia of billions. There are many countries (in the Middle-East especially) that used their influence far more than Russia in the past election but in favor of the Clintons. None of that is of concern to the anti-Russian jihadists in the West. 

Edited July 18, 2017 by Merzik

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, Merzik said:

I doubt you have much of a problem with the US working to influence and change goverments all over the world ( including Russia)  Given the bellicose statements of Clinton and her unhinged NeoCon allies toward Russia it is little wonder Russia wanted Trump to prevail. Time Magazine openly stated the US helped the drunken Boris Yeltin get re-elected in 1996. This allowed 4 more years of the mafia oligarchs with connections to the West to plunder Russia of billions. There are many countries (in the Middle-East especially) that used their influence far more than Russia in the past election but in favor of the Clintons. None of that is of concern to the anti-Russian jihadists in the West. 

Now there are mafia oligarchs with connections to Putin who plunder billions.  The only one of them not in a strict sense connected to Putin is Putin himself.

[Merzik]

15 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Now there are mafia oligarchs with connections to Putin who plunder billions.  The only one of them not in a strict sense connected to Putin is Putin himself.

The Russian GDP dropped 45% during the 90's under Yeltsin and his mafiosi ( not Italian of course) I was married to a lady from Moscow for 7 years during this decade and made several trips to Russia. I found out what was going on there.  Even MSM like the Guardian admitted billions were being stolen and ending up in New York, London and Israeli banks. Whatever his flaws Putin ended the worst of this and turned the Russian economy around which is why even the NYT admits he has about 85% real approval in Russia. No doubt Putin lives well but not many in Russia would chose a return to what was going on in the 90's. This is a fact. 

[ilostmypassword]

46 minutes ago, Merzik said:

The Russian GDP dropped 45% during the 90's under Yeltsin and his mafiosi ( not Italian of course) I was married to a lady from Moscow for 7 years during this decade and made several trips to Russia. I found out what was going on there.  Even MSM like the Guardian admitted billions were being stolen and ending up in New York, London and Israeli banks. Whatever his flaws Putin ended the worst of this and turned the Russian economy around which is why even the NYT admits he has about 85% real approval in Russia. No doubt Putin lives well but not many in Russia would chose a return to what was going on in the 90's. This is a fact. 

"Putin ended the worst of this and turned the Russian economy around..."

So billions still aren't leaving Russia?  And the economy is turned around?

And Russia was in turmoil because of the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Sure, no Russians want to return to that time. So is the Soviet Union going to collapse again? As far as I know, there still is no Soviet Union. Although it's clear that Putin is willing to do whatever it takes to sell the Russian people on the creation of a new Russian empire. Which is one way to avoid the fact that the kleptocracy he heads is incapable of rejuvenating the Russian economy.

[dunroaming]

Thank god Trump is there to put things right.  It's good to have someone in charge who get's things done!  I mean look at how he has repealed the Obamacare bill.  Fabulous!

[Grubster]

6 hours ago, mesquite said:

Another mess from Obama that Trump has to clean up.

All Trump had to do to reverse what Obama did was give them the diplomatic property, seems to me the Trump administration is agreeing with Obama by not doing that.

[cameraman888]

How about toss all the Russian nationals out of America if they retaliate for getting Trump in as president. If the Russians are not dual citizens and they are on a tourist visa, expel them. 

[losworld]

23 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

"Putin ended the worst of this and turned the Russian economy around..."

So billions still aren't leaving Russia?  And the economy is turned around?

And Russia was in turmoil because of the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Sure, no Russians want to return to that time. So is the Soviet Union going to collapse again? As far as I know, there still is no Soviet Union. Although it's clear that Putin is willing to do whatever it takes to sell the Russian people on the creation of a new Russian empire. Which is one way to avoid the fact that the kleptocracy he heads is incapable of rejuvenating the Russian economy.

Try to refrain from addressing things you have very little knowledge about. 

[iReason]

On July 18, 2017 at 2:52 PM, mesquite said:

Another mess from Obama that Trump has to clean up.

 

What mess?

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, losworld said:

Try to refrain from addressing things you have very little knowledge about. 

Try citing actual facts and a coherent argument when you call into question someone else's knowledge.

[Thakkar]

2 hours ago, cameraman888 said:

How about toss all the Russian nationals out of America if they retaliate for getting Trump in as president. If the Russians are not dual citizens and they are on a tourist visa, expel them. 

But then there will be no one left for little Donny and his cohorts to meet with? You *know* he has trouble making new friends.

 

T

[Silurian]

On 7/18/2017 at 2:42 PM, webfact said:

"The Russian side stressed (in the meeting) that if Washington does not remove this and other irritants, including continued obstacles to the work of our diplomatic institutions, we reserve the right to take retaliatory measures based on the principle of reciprocity," the statement said.

 

Whoa, and I thought the "POTUS" assured us that Russia was good people. I guess there needs to be some compensation for all that election assistance mutual cooperation in Syria or elsewhere. I wonder what "retaliatory measures" mean? No more Russian loans to Trump companies? No more Russian vodka exports to the USA? No more Russian brides? They already took away Russian baby adoption. Got to love the mysteriousness to it all.

 

[IAMHERE]

On 7/19/2017 at 6:15 PM, cameraman888 said:

How about toss all the Russian nationals out of America if they retaliate for getting Trump in as president. If the Russians are not dual citizens and they are on a tourist visa, expel them. 

Great idea, Putin couldn't possibly want all those mafia guys back in the mother land.

[Rancid]

On 18/07/2017 at 5:40 PM, Merzik said:

The Russian GDP dropped 45% during the 90's under Yeltsin and his mafiosi ( not Italian of course) I was married to a lady from Moscow for 7 years during this decade and made several trips to Russia. I found out what was going on there.  Even MSM like the Guardian admitted billions were being stolen and ending up in New York, London and Israeli banks. Whatever his flaws Putin ended the worst of this and turned the Russian economy around which is why even the NYT admits he has about 85% real approval in Russia. No doubt Putin lives well but not many in Russia would chose a return to what was going on in the 90's. This is a fact. 

Facts are not what many people choose to believe, Russia isn't a perfect society but anyone with eyes would recognize that it currently is certainly no worse than most other states.

 

Problem is that people no longer seem to be able to form their own opinions when the only media they read all flogs the same story, the media meme essentially becomes someones opinion, in reality they probably don't even realize it. Goebbels, the master propagandist would no doubt be in awe at how easily peoples views are molded in the modern era.

 

How else could normal people be persuaded that potential nuclear war with Russia over nothing but unproven gossip and innuendo is a good option for their lives. We all recognize the military industrial complex, as described by President Eisenhower, needs enemies to keep the money flowing but seems to me they are currently playing a very dangerous game.