Pressure builds on Trump at home over pledge for closer Moscow ties
Source: Reuters
Tue Jul 4, 2017 | 11:11am EDT
By Roberta Rampton | WASHINGTON
During his presidential campaign, Republican Donald Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "strong leader" with whom he would like to reset tense U.S.-Russian relations.
But as Trump heads to his first face-to-face meeting as president with Putin on Friday at the G20 summit in Germany, he is under pressure at home to take a tough line with the Kremlin.
Allegations of Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. election have alarmed both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who are pushing to extend tough sanctions placed on Russia following its 2014 annexation of Crimea, a peninsula belonging to Ukraine.
Lawmakers including Republican Senator Cory Gardner are also concerned Russia has prolonged the civil war in Syria by backing its President Bashar al-Assad, a strongman whose forces have used chemical weapons against insurgents and civilians. The chaos has fueled instability in the region and a flood of migrants to Europe.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN19P0J8
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