What Is Wrong with the Kremlin Report?
Published in Aktualnye Kommentarii
(Russia) on 30 January 2018
by Ivan Kurilla (link to original)
(Russia) on 30 January 2018
by Ivan Kurilla (link to original)
Translated from
by Olga Devine.
Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
Many questions raised by the Kremlin report discussion remain unanswered. Why has Donald Trump not yet extended the sanction list? Is he going to do this or will the Kremlin report remain just a report? How will these actions turn out for Trump himself? A specialist on America, Ivan Kurilla answered these questions.
The law required Donald Trump to submit this list, and it was submitted. The list is as formal as possible: There is no need to conduct an investigation; one simply needs to open the websites of Russian government agencies and the Forbes list and copy everything from there.* That’s exactly what they did.
Thus, on the one hand, Trump fulfilled the requirements set by Congress. On the other hand, it is obvious that this is not the requisite sanctions list due to the fact that this list does not differentiate with respect to people on the list who are part of the Russian government who are unconnected to any of the reasons for the original imposition of the sanctions (i.e., they did not determine Russia's policy toward Ukraine, and had no influence on the question of annexing Crimea). This is just a list of the entire Russian elite.
Accordingly, Trump met the requirements and sabotaged them at the same time.
What will happen next? The U.S. will need to somehow work on this list. Of course, we do not know what is in the classified part of the list (maybe there is an explanation, some logic, etc.). We will only be able to determine if the classified portions of the report present anything more serious based on how U.S. lawmakers react.
How does it threaten Trump? We will see how the American public reacts. I believe that many people in Russia were relieved today, even those who are on the list. It is clear that the list is weak.
Although Russia will hold presidential elections in one and a half months, many people expect that the composition of government personnel may change. Personnel changes usually occur after the presidential elections. It will turn out that the majority of these people, many of whom saw their names on this list, in a month and a half will no longer be relevant, and new people will appear. It’s not clear what will happen then. Will the United States revise this list or it will remain the same, and in two months become an anachronism?
*Editor’s note: The Forbes list is a reference to Forbes magazine’s World’s Billionaire’s list, a ranking of the world’s wealthiest people by their estimated net worth.
The law required Donald Trump to submit this list, and it was submitted. The list is as formal as possible: There is no need to conduct an investigation; one simply needs to open the websites of Russian government agencies and the Forbes list and copy everything from there.* That’s exactly what they did.
Thus, on the one hand, Trump fulfilled the requirements set by Congress. On the other hand, it is obvious that this is not the requisite sanctions list due to the fact that this list does not differentiate with respect to people on the list who are part of the Russian government who are unconnected to any of the reasons for the original imposition of the sanctions (i.e., they did not determine Russia's policy toward Ukraine, and had no influence on the question of annexing Crimea). This is just a list of the entire Russian elite.
Accordingly, Trump met the requirements and sabotaged them at the same time.
What will happen next? The U.S. will need to somehow work on this list. Of course, we do not know what is in the classified part of the list (maybe there is an explanation, some logic, etc.). We will only be able to determine if the classified portions of the report present anything more serious based on how U.S. lawmakers react.
How does it threaten Trump? We will see how the American public reacts. I believe that many people in Russia were relieved today, even those who are on the list. It is clear that the list is weak.
Although Russia will hold presidential elections in one and a half months, many people expect that the composition of government personnel may change. Personnel changes usually occur after the presidential elections. It will turn out that the majority of these people, many of whom saw their names on this list, in a month and a half will no longer be relevant, and new people will appear. It’s not clear what will happen then. Will the United States revise this list or it will remain the same, and in two months become an anachronism?
*Editor’s note: The Forbes list is a reference to Forbes magazine’s World’s Billionaire’s list, a ranking of the world’s wealthiest people by their estimated net worth.
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