Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel says he is “encouraged” by Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia https://t.co/rtbNsbpWrW
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 15, 2016
Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says he is optimistic about President-elect Donald Trump’s push for warmer relations with Russia.
“I am encouraged by that,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Thursday. “We have common interest with Russia. Russia is a big country; it’s an important country.”
“Every new administration that takes office, especially after an eight-year presidency, comes in with new hope, new responsibilities,” said Hagel, who served in the Obama administration from 2013 to 2015. “So, yes, I’m encouraged. Can they do it? Can they find enough common ground? We’ll see.”
{mosads}Hagel, a former Republican GOP senator from Nebraska, admitted that the Trump administration may struggle with Moscow.
“I remember when President Obama came in eight years ago, there was a new effort to reset the relationship with Russia,” he said. “That didn’t work out so well.”
“That doesn’t discount or at all put aside the big differences we have with Russia,” Hagel added of Trump’s similar openness to improving relations.
“Like, where Russia is today in terms of what they did in Ukraine, Crimea [and] their involvement, clearly now military involvement — and they’re there to stay, I suspect — in Syria.”
Hagel added that Trump’s cooperation with the Russian government is essential for ending the grueling Syrian civil war.
“We can’t continue down this path of more slaughter, more chaos [and] more war in the Middle East,” he said. “We can’t continue proxy wars on and on and on. Where does this go?
“It will bring more suffering and more death and more slaughter. We’ve got to find some platforms of stability to start working together, if we can, to sort this out.”
Trump has repeatedly promised he will improve America’s diplomatic standing with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Critics have charged that Trump is too friendly with Putin, arguing he may lack the strength for handling Russia. Even some GOP senators have raised concerns about Trump secretary of State pick Rex Tillerson’s relationship with Putin, while a CIA assessment from last week states that the Russian government hacked Democratic National Committee emails to help elect Trump.