Putin Responds to American Journalist on Trump Impeachment

Dec. 20 (EIRNS)—Speaking at his annual press conference on Dec. 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to a question from Dimitri Simes, publisher of the National Interest, on the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump. Simes asked, in part, “In this situation, do you think you—and Russia—have any opportunity to try to maintain or strengthen dialogue with the United States before the end of Trump’s Presidency? What can you do to enhance strategic stability, and more specifically, to extend the New START?”

Putin responded:

“As for the chances to continue our dialogue until the end of Trump’s Presidency, you do sound like it is actually ending. I am not so sure about that. The decision still needs to pass through the Senate, where the Republicans, as far as I know, have the majority, and they are unlikely to want to remove the representative of their party from power for something I, personally, see as far-fetched.

“This is just another move in that country’s domestic political campaigning, where one party that lost the election, the Democratic Party, is trying to achieve results they want through other means, such as charging Trump with conspiracy related to Russia. When it turned out there was no conspiracy, there was no longer a sufficient reason to impeach. Now they have invented pressure on Ukraine. I do not know what this is all about. But your Congresspeople certainly know better.”

Putin expanded on what he thought U.S. policy toward Ukraine should be, rather than the excuses used for impeaching the President, which could be summarized in his remark, “Go ahead and give them the money, help Ukraine, grant it subsidized loans with lengthy repayment periods.”

He came back to the original question: “You have mentioned global security, including the New START, as one of the foundations of our relations. We put forward our proposals, as I have already said, and will repeat: we stand ready until the end of the year to extend the existing New START as is.”

Chairman of the Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Sen. Konstantin Kosachev also commented on impeachment to media, saying:

“There can be no doubt that the impeachment procedure, launched by the Democrats is not about removing him from power, it is about preventing him from being re-elected. In this situation, the procedure is the goal in and of itself....

“There is apparent irony in accusing Trump of power abuse: I can’t recall any other President whose actions would be as limited as those of the current [leader]. He has more problems with ‘using’ his power than with ‘abusing’ it,”

TASS quoted the Senator as saying.