Wither now the Putin-Trump bromance?

Hardly had Putin time to congratulate himself on his success in rigging the recent Russian presidential elections on 18 March that got him re-elected, when the international storm clouds against his attempt to assassinate Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England, began to gather.

As reported by BBC News,

"The United States and its European allies are expelling dozens of Russian diplomats in a co-ordinated response to the poisoning of a former Russian spy in the UK.

...

It is said to be the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history.
More than 20 countries have aligned with the UK, expelling more than 100 diplomats." (BBC News : 26 March 2018) (my emphasis)

These expulsions of Russian diplomats comes close on the heels of Putin's latest 'maskirova' strategy in his ongoing war with Ukraine in the Donbas.

As reported by UNIAN,

"Sources in the Russian foreign ministry say that Putin is ready to make Eastern Ukraine an area controlled by an interim international administration—as was the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or Kosovo. However, he is not ready to make concessions on the Crimean issue. “It’s only fair,” Putin responds to all foreign partners when they ask about Crimea, Time reports" (UNIAN : 25 March 2018) (my emphasis)

To which Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze (left),  Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, responded that,

"I believe we have a large number of red lines, which in no case we can afford to cross," she said at a briefing, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
...
"And I will believe in the sincerity of Putin's intentions to really move toward a peaceful settlement in Donbas only if we stop seeing all these manipulations around the issue of either the deployment of peacekeepers on some absolutely surreal conditions set by the Kremlin, or the introduction of an interim administration. I believe this will also be offered by the Kremlin amid some surreal intentions and principles," she said. (UNIAN : 26 March 2018) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine, recently announced that,

"We are particularly committed to NATO membership. Our goal is to become a member of the Alliance in the next decade," Poroshenko said." (UKRINFORM: 28 March 2018) (my emphasis)

And as also reported by UNIAN,

"Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says the National Guard of Ukraine will play a leading role in the Joint Forces Operation in Donbas. "Today, when we are changing the format of the operation to return control over the seized territories in accordance with the law... the role of the National Guard in the liberation of Donbas remains extremely important," Poroshenko said" (UNIAN : 26 March 2018) (my emphasis)

Putin's latest diplomatic 'maskirovka' strategy is thus dead in the water even as he announced it.

Added to which,

"The European security organization responsible for monitoring the deadly conflict between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine will reintroduce its long-range drone program more than a year and a half after it was dropped due to repeated shoot-downs." (Christopher Miller (right): RFERL : March 27, 2018) (my emphasis)

This re-introduction of long-range drones by the OSCE is to monitor both the continuation of ceasefire violations by Putin's soldiers and proxies in the Donbas, as well as the continuous supply of weaponry and arms from Russia into the Donbas.

(Drone footage: Andrii Rymaruk)

What is further adding to Putin and his Kremlin 'siloviki's' headaches is the discovery that the current US Omnibus Spending Bill, which Trump recently signed into law, contains, as reported by Dan Merica (left),

" ... a direct message to President Donald Trump: Russia needs to be punished.
...
The so-called omnibus spending bill, which the Senate passed just after midnight early Friday morning, includes measures that bar a host of federal agencies from engaging with Russia and sanctions the country for a vast series of grievances.
...

One section bars money from funding a program that Russia participates in by stating money should "not be used for officials of the central government of Russia."

 ...

Another section punishes Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea by barring funds from going to support any countries that back the annexation, and directs Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to push Americans on certain financial boards to disallow funds from flowing to programs supportive of Russia's annexation." (CNN : March 23, 2018) (my emphasis)

 

Trump was TOTALLY unaware that he was signing these sanctions against Putin into law.

 Wither now the Putin-Trump bromance? 

(to be continued)