Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he believes Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election could be an “act of war.”
In a speech to the Economic Times Global Business Summit, Cheney said Russian President Vladimir Putin was undoubtedly meddling in American affairs, which is something that should be taken very seriously.
“The fact that he took his capabilities in the cyber area and tried to influence our election, there’s not any argument at this stage that somehow the election of President Trump was not legitimate, but there’s no question there was a very serious effort made by Mr. Putin and his government and his organization to interfere in major ways our basic fundamental democratic processes,” Cheney said.
“In some quarters that would be considered an act of war. I think it’s the kind of conduct and activity we’ll see going forward.”
He said Eastern Europe had only recently become independent from Moscow, but Russian influence is growing.
“It looks to me like that’s changing fairly dramatically as I watch Mr. Putin operate in the Soviet Union,” Cheney said. “He believed that the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union was a disaster and I think he has aspirations to correct that.”
Cheney said he believes Putin wants to bring the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia back into the Russian fold. Those states are all a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Putin’s cyber interference is also prominent in those countries, Cheney said.
He says Putin’s interference in the Middle East is also troubling.
“He’s now back in a very significant way in Syria and Iran, operating in ways that nobody, none of his predecessors have done in the last 40 years,” he said.
