FOREIGN AFFAIRS/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UKRAINE: “Expectations that President Donald Trump’s election would lead to a rapid U.S. rapprochement with Russia are fading, as the White House pushes off the Kremlin’s proposals for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin and takes an increasingly skeptical view of reaching a grand bargain with Moscow.
At a White House meeting this week, high-level national-security officials discussed possible approaches to Russia, looking to nail down elements of administration policy before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s first official trip to Russia in mid-April, administration officials said.
While still focusing on specific areas of possible cooperation, top administration officials now see major impediments to a broad deal on an array of policies, given Russia’s continued provocations in terms of weapons deployments, overtures to Iran, cyberintrusions and intervention in Ukraine.”
-Carol E. Lee, Paul Sonne, and Thomas Grove, “Trump’s Rapid Rapprochement Plans With Russia Fade,” The Wall Street Journal online, March 29, 2017