Putin Will Suppress Russians who Object to Rapprochement with US, Gallyamov Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Feb. 27 – Despite clear signs that the US under Donald Trump is converging with Russia on many issues, including the war in Ukraine, many Russians don’t trust the United States and don’t want to develop closer relations with it. But Vladimir Putin will suppress all of them if he decides to move further in that direction, Abbas Gallyamov says.\
    The former Putin speechwriter who now writes frequently as a Putin critic says the Kremlin leader can be counted on to do what his Soviet predecessors always did and crack down hard on “any attempts to speak out against ‘the general line’ of reconciliation with the US” (pointmedia.io/story/67befe89e25aea416748a729).
    Repression will thus increase; and if there is any softening in Russian domestic policies, Gallyamov says, it will be the result of Ukrainian victories at the front and the worsening economic situation in Russia itself, although many in the West may misread that and claim that it was Washington’s change of heart that is responsible – and even claim this as a victory.