Donald Trump's advisers urge tougher Russia policy after expulsions

Some senior Trump administration officials are pressing for more aggressive action toward Russia, hoping to persuade a reluctant President Trump to change his approach after a week of mass diplomatic expulsions that have driven the relationship with Moscow to its lowest point in decades.
 
With hundreds of diplomats in Washington, Moscow and European capitals packing their bags as the tensions stemming from the poisoning of a former Russian spy living in Britain have worsened, the Trump team is eyeing additional sanctions and other measures against Russia. But while aides say the president has become increasingly convinced that Russia is dangerous, he has still refused to embrace a tougher public posture himself and remains uncertain how far to authorise his administration to go.

 
Trump has emphasised the importance of dialogue with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, yet the departure of so many diplomats expelled from both Russia and the US will make it that much harder to maintain a semblance of normal relations between the two countries.
 

Trump has remained publicly silent amid the dramatic rounds of diplomatic retaliation, leaving it to others to condemn Moscow. Frustrated by the investigation of the special counsel, Robert S Mueller III, into whether his campaign cooperated with Russia in 2016, a scenario he dismissed as a “hoax”, Trump recently called Putin to congratulate him on his victory in a re-election widely dismissed as a sham.

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