Russian media is reporting this morning on an assessment by Aleksey Pushkov, Chairman of the Commission on Informational Politics in the Russian Duma, and by various military experts of the future relationships between the Russian Federation and the US under the Trump administration. They assess that Trump will at least tacitly acquiesce to the Russian “red line” on the Ukraine: Non-alignment (no NATO membership) for the Ukraine, functional autonomy of the Donbass region, and de-facto annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia. They further assess that Trump is serious about modernization and expansion of the US armed forces, requiring Russia to keep pace. They expect improved cooperation in the Middle East with regards to the destruction of terrorist organizations such as ISIS and An-Nusra. The situation is the South China Sea is flagged as a potential hotspot for conflict, since Russia is committed to strengthening its bilateral relationship with Beijing. Overall, they stress that since WWII it was the professionalism of the US and Russian armed forces that often set the tone for pragmatic relationship between the superpowers and they expect this to continue and improve under the Trump administration.
