WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th December, 2019) America's anti-Russian policies will not change as impeachment makes President Donald Trump ever-more wary of his instincts to befriend Kremlin leaders, former US Ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan John Herbst told Sputnik.
"We are seeing a relatively consistent pattern of policy at least as relates to Eurasia for Trump or rather the Trump administration. And the pattern is very simple. President Trump has some sort of feeling or weakness, or whatever you want to call it for Mr. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and the Kremlin. But that feeling is reflected in Trump's personal interaction and it ultimately doesn't affect policy," Herbst told Sputnik. "That pattern, I think, persists. I think that the impeachment underscores for President Trump the dangers associated with his instincts in this area."
He reminded that instead of easing anti-Russians stance, widely anticipated at the onset of Trump's presidency, "you got additional sanctions within a few months."
"We saw that in Helsinki where President Trump seemed to go goo-goo-eyed over Mr. Putin and we got pushback from Congress," Herbst, now the director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, said.
Herbst himself defends US sanctions on Russia, arguing that they have hurt the Russian economy "in serious ways", if not stopped the war in eastern Ukraine.
"And if Mr.Putin is pursuing policies dangerous to the United States don't we want him to be weaker in his capacity? In this sense they are very helpful," he said.
Trump became the third president in US history to be impeached when his rival Democrats who control the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to find him guilty of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after investigations concluding he invited foreign meddling in the US electoral process.
The president will have to face trial in the US Senate but is unlikely to be removed from power as the higher legislative decision-making body is controlled by members of his Republican party, who have made it clear that they viewed his impeachment as a sham.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, repeatedly dismissing the impeachment inquiry as a witch hunt aimed at reversing the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
