Three months after President Trump took office, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's diplomats delivered a document to the State Department. That document, obtained by BuzzFeed News, laid out an entire plan for the immediate reset of relations between the U.S. and Russia, across military, diplomatic, and intelligence channels:
By April, a top Russian cyber official, Andrey Krutskikh, would meet with his American counterpart for consultations on "information security," the document proposed. By May, the two countries would hold "special consultations" on the war in Afghanistan, the Iran nuclear deal, the “situation in Ukraine,” and efforts to denuclearize the "Korean Peninsula." And by the time Putin and Trump held their first meeting, the heads of the CIA, FBI, National Security Council, and Pentagon would meet face-to-face with their Russian counterparts to discuss areas of mutual interest. A raft of other military and diplomatic channels opened during the Obama administration's first-term "reset" would also be restored. [BuzzFeed News]
Perhaps even more revealing is the document's assumption that "Trump wouldn't share the lingering U.S. anger over Moscow's alleged interference in the 2016 election and might accept a lightning fast rapprochement," BuzzFeed noted. "It just ignores everything that caused the relationship to deteriorate and pretends that the election interference and the Ukraine crisis never happened," said Angela Stent, a national intelligence officer on Russia under former President George W. Bush.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Most of the document's proposed meetings haven't happened. And with the recent dipolmatic facility closures and the sanctions Congress slapped on Russia in August, it's looking like Putin's big plans might not become reality.
Read more on what Moscow had in mind for U.S.-Russia relations in the Trump era at BuzzFeed News.
-
How AI chatbots are ending marriagesUnder The Radar When one partner forms an intimate bond with AI it can all end in tears
-
Political cartoons for November 27Cartoons Thursday's political cartoons include giving thanks, speaking American, and more
-
We Did OK, Kid: Anthony Hopkins’ candid memoir is a ‘page-turner’The Week Recommends The 87-year-old recounts his journey from ‘hopeless’ student to Oscar-winning actor
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
