Donald Trump attempted to joke about Moscow's response through diplomatic lines. The US President thanked Vladimir Putin for cutting the diplomatic staff in Russia by 755 people. And he said that this way Washington will be able to save a decent amount with these staff salaries.
The State Department did not appreciate this humor and called this reaction "the most shameful moment of his entire Presidential term." Given this exchange of courtesies and the flight of our military aircraft over the White House, the founder of WikiLeaks, Assange, suggested that Moscow is deliberately "trolling" Washington. Alexander Khristenko tried to find out what this all means.
US politicians and journalists are trying to figure out. Of course, Donald Trump was expected to express his opinion on Russia's decision to sharply reduce the number of US diplomats. But no one could imagine that it would be words of gratitude. Mr. President, do you have a response to the expulsion of 755 diplomats by the Russian President? I want to thank him, because thanks to him, we are cutting costs. I'm very grateful to Putin for expelling so many people, now our spending significantly decreased.
The diplomats had no reason to return home before, so I really appreciate that we will be able to reduce these costs. Even if it was a joke, the State Department was offended. Many even got furious.
The Politico newspaper interviewed several high-ranking US diplomats. This is incredibly demoralizing and disrespectful towards those people who serve their country in a dangerous place. Some key congressmen have also reacted already. First, the expulsion of our diplomats is a violation of our rights by Putin, and secondly, we need these diplomats to work there.
Obviously, Russia is an important place for their work, it's our enemy. It's not right for the President to talk so lightly about it and to turn it into a banality. However, whatever the attitude to Trump's statement, Washington is preparing a response to Moscow's decision. According to the newspaper Kommersant, the US authorities may require Russia to close one of the general consulates in the US.
There are four of them now: in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Houston. There are three US consulates in Russia. Earlier, the possibility of opening the fourth was discussed to equalize the number, but the sanctions war initiated by the Congress, the deportation of our diplomats, and the demonization of Russia in the US, did not leave other options for the diplomats.
The world is carefully watching Moscow's and Washington's every statement and political gesture. The fact that through the Open Sky Treaty, Russian Tu-154 flew over the most important US landmarks, for example over the CIA headquarters in Langley, the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, considers it Russian "trolling."
And the western countries, he thinks, to counteract this trolling, are making threats, to raise their importance and budgets. Congress has distinguished itself in this political season. Despite the fact that Republicans have a majority in both chambers and their own President, in six months they didn't do anything really important for the Americans. Leaving for the summer break today, they tried to add the anti-Russian sanctions to their record.
