Two recent stories surrounding Russia sanctions – the delisting of the Russian aluminum giant Rusal by Treasury, as well as the re-invitation of three sanctioned Russians to the World Economic Forum in Davos – have led to a minor freak-out among amateur Russia watchers convinced that the Trump Administration has once again folded to Vladimir Putin. Though Trump’s own baffling solicitude towards Putin has justifiably made people suspicious, these two stories are examples of a very different fact of Trump’s time in office: the tenacity of the American bureaucracy to hold a hard line against Russia despite whatever the President might secretly want.
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Karina Orlova: Don’t play the Russian PR game
People walk past the aluminium giant United Company RUSAL headquarters in Moscow on April 9, 2018.
