John Herbst: Russia is extremely toxic topic in Washington

The Director of Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council Mr. John Herbst underlines the rejection in Washington of Russia's actions. He said this during the 12th Kyiv Security Forum, organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation. 

"Russia is an extremely toxic topic in today's Washington. Therefore, this led to a stronger policy against the Kremlin's revisionism and regarding support of Ukraine," he stressed.

Mr. Herbst believes that the U.S. Administration had responded rather quickly and effectively to threats from Russia, in particular, such as the Skripal poisoning.

And even when Mr. Trump had spoken about possible mitigation of sanctions after a meeting with Mr. Putin, - vice versa, this caused the Senate and even part of its Administration have been mobilized and sanctions had been only intensified. "Probably the policy of Mr. Trump is tough enough to stop Russia from going further into Ukraine and to go on escalation in Syria," the expert suggested.

FOR INFORMATION:

The Kyiv Security Forum was established by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation in 2007. The forum is an annual event that acts as a platform for high-level discussion on relevant matters of national security as well as security in the Black Sea region, Europe and the world.