President Donald Trump sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin recently, emphasizing “the importance of further engagement in various areas including countering terrorism, enhancing legislative dialogue and resuming cultural exchanges.”
This was according to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who delivered the letter to Putin’s administration during a visit to Russia this week. The letter comes less than a month after Trump’s heavily criticized performance at a joint press conference with Putin in Helsinki.
The letter also came just days after both Russia and China stopped just short of admitting they intend to ignore the reimposed U.S. sanctions on Iran that went into effect Monday, and to continue doing business with the country. Trump had threatened that “anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States.”
It’s not entirely clear what Trump meant by “cultural exchanges” in his letter to Putin, and the White House did not respond to a request for more details about the letter.
Another of Trump’s purported goals in the letter, that of increased “legislative dialogue,” already appears to be underway. During the past month, a total of eight Republican senators have traveled to Moscow and met with Russian officials and members of the Duma, Russia’s parliament.
A group of seven GOP senators traveled to Moscow in early July, and upon their return, said they forcefully raised the issue of Russia’s attack on the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as a host of other destabilizing activities the Kremlin has undertaken around the world.
Paul traveled alone, however. Like Trump, Paul takes a far more conciliatory stance towards Putin’s government than do many U.S. intelligence agencies, legislators or cyber security experts.
In a statement Tuesday, Paul said he had invited a delegation of Russian legislators to Washington to “to continue dialogue on vital issues such as nuclear non-proliferation and combating terrorism,” and his invitation had been accepted.
Trump sent a similar invitation to Putin following the Helsinki summit, but plans for any such visit are still on hold.
In July, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians for allegedly hacking into the computers of Democratic campaigns and officials in 2016. Dozens more Russian government officials are also currently subject to U.S. sanctions stemming from Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
