The Financial Times: Putin Aide Signals Thaw in Russia’s Ties with Next US president

Russia is ready to turn a new page with the next US president, one of Vladimir Putin’s longest-serving aides has said, signalling some hope that Washington and Moscow can resume a more pragmatic relationship despite the recent spike in tensions between the two powers.

“We are always ready for Realpolitik,” Sergei Ivanov, a member of Putin’s security council, told the Financial Times. In his first interview to international media since stepping down as presidential chief of staff in August, Ivanov said the Russian leadership had been “insulted” by anti-Russian rhetoric during the US election, but counted on American pragmatism to prevail.

“We are prepared for that. We just have to wait until the end of the election campaign. We have to wait a couple more weeks, we just have to be patient.”

 -RW