© Natalia Seliverstova / ReutersThe State Duma of the Russian Federation on Okhotny Ryad Street in Moscow.
A senior Russian lawmaker told reporters that US President Donald Trump had "shown his real face" in signing a fresh sanctions bill against Russia, adding that PM Dmitry Medvedev was right when he called the current state of relations a trade war.
"Defining all this as a trade war is very right and correct. The masks are off - Trump has shown his true face. For him US interests are the only thing that matters. America needs markets to sell its products, they don't need Ukraine and have no interest in the Crimean issue - these are all invented excuses that allow them to slap sanctions on Russia and clear the markets for the US companies producing energy resources and weapons," the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for Defense and Security, Aleksandr Shein, said in comments with Life.ru news site.
"Trump is no puppet. That is just a convenient position - he pretends to be a very kind person with a good attitude to Russia who experiences pressure from 'hawks' in the Senate and is forced to take harsh measures. Trump is simply shifting the blame." he added."From the very beginning Trump could not meet with the Russian president - he had set out different priorities for himself. When they eventually met they talked for two hours and after that Trump signs another bill, thus ending the discussion if he intended to improve the relations with Russia or to continue the economic war against our country," Shein stated.
Comment: Trump continues redirecting disappointment with his legislation - both foreign and domestic - towards Congress. One reading is that he's as disappointed as anyone else, and wishes to signal to his base that he's still 'on their side'. But another possibility is that he's just playing nice while looking out for Empire's best interests:
Interesting theory: 'Trump has shown his true face - He's only pretending to be at war with US Senate' - Russian MP