Has The White House Been 'Very Hard On Russia'?

Washington Examiner: White House: 'We've been very hard on Russia'

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday that the Trump administration has been "very hard" on Russia.

“Look, I think we’ve been very hard on Russia from the beginning,” Sanders said at the daily White House press briefing.

“There have been sanctions, we’ve increased energy exportation from this country, and we’ve done things to put pressure on Russia, asking them to engage in a bigger and greater way on some of the common enemies we face,” she said.

President Trump signed a Russia sanctions bill in August, though he called it “seriously flawed” and issued a signing statement saying it only “purports” to impose certain rules the president can ignore.

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WNU Editor: The rhetoric has certainly been "rough and tough" .... Trump Adviser Calls Russia and China ‘Threats’ to U.S. Liberty (Bloomberg). But critics of the Trump administration do not see it that way .... 7 times Donald Trump man-crushed on Vladimir Putin (Jefferson Morley, Salon/Alternet). As to what is my opinion .... if it was not for U.S./EU sanctions, Russia's GDP would be 2% to 3% higher than what it is now ..... so yes .... U.S. actions have been hard even though President Trump did not initiate these measures (but he did sign onto it). But what I find interesting is that in the eyes of most Russians (including Putin) .... they do not blame Trump for this, and have given him a pass, as well as a pass when he is critical of the Kremlin.