Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that he and his team have warned Russian officials about all threats that Russia poses to Americans and U.S. interests in various parts of the world. Pompeo also defended the Trump administration's tough line on China, saying the communist nation represents a potent threat to the U.S. and Western-style democracy.
Pompeo would not say whether he had specifically raised allegations that Russia is paying bounties to Taliban fighters to kill American troops in Afghanistan, but he said the discussions with the Russians involved all manner of threats. He told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that threats from Russia against Americans in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere had been covered.
Pompeo declined to say whether he would recommend that Trump raise the matter with Putin but said the Russian leader understood full well the U.S. position. He pointed to military action taken against several hundred Russian mercenaries who were advancing on American forces in Syria in 2019. Those fighters "are no longer on this planet," Pompeo noted.
Numerous critics, including some former Trump administration officials, have said Trump's self-acknowledged personal affinity for Putin has undercut U.S. efforts to both counter Russian aggression and enlist allies to join its cause. They have pointed to Trump's refusal to accept intelligence findings that Russia tried to help him win election in 2016, the president's willingness to praise Putin, and his efforts to condition vital military assistance to Ukraine on a political favour.
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