There is talk among senior Trump administration officials in favor of harsher actions against Russia the past several weeks and some of them are encouraging President Trump to take additional action after the Kremlin announced the expulsion of U.S. officials, according to a new report.
Although Trump now views Russia in a less favorable light, he has so far resisted taking a more assertive stance personally and is unsure of the extent of the actions he’s willing to allow his administration to take against Russian President Vladimir Putin, aides told the New York Times.
The report notes outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, whose last day with the administration is Saturday, had already come to the conclusion that a tougher approach was needed, and his chosen successor, Mike Pompeo, and incoming national security adviser, John Bolton, have hard-line points of view on Russia.
The report comes as tensions with Russia have escalated in recent weeks, in part due to the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom earlier this month.
On Monday, the U.S. announced that 60 Russian diplomats would be expelled from the U.S. in response to the attack. Russia announced a “tit-for-tat” response on Thursday, ordering 60 U.S. officials out of Russia.
The U.S. isn’t the only nation to have expelled Russian diplomats following the attack.
In total, Western nations have expelled 151 Russian officials following U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to remove 23 Russian diplomats in response to the incident after the U.K. determined Russia was behind the March 4 attack.
May said that Sergey Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, was poisoned by a “military-grade nerve agent” created during the Cold War by the Soviet Union.
“This represents an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom,” May said told the House of Commons. “It must therefore be met with a full and robust response.”
Russian officials have denied Russia was behind the attack, and have, in turn, suggested that the U.K was responsible. Additionally, Putin has attributed the accusations to “delirium.”
