Pompeo praises Trump for being ‘tough' on Russia, rejects 'soft' Moscow policy accusations

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has praised President Donald Trump for ”being tough” on Russia during his tenure, fighting off accusations that Washington pursued a foreign policy favorable to Russia and allegedly colluded with Moscow.

Pompeo claimed that Trump has taken a harder line on the Kremlin compared with his Democratic predecessor.

The US secretary of state stressed in a series of tweets the Trump administration's successes in being "tough on Russia" in an apparent attempt to dismiss the notion that the US government has been too "soft" on Moscow and has shown “passivity” toward the Kremlin.

Russia, Russia, Russia. . . let's talk Russia, cut through the noise. No Administration has been as tough on Russia as we have. Period. Full stop. Look at the facts. #LeadingFromTheFront pic.twitter.com/bUIyHt2IWm

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 3, 2021

Pompeo touted that the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on more than 365 Russian citizens and entities in response to the country's alleged "destabilizing and aggressive actions" in Europe.

He also argued that the US, under the Trump administration, heavily invested in its armed forces to take on its "adversaries", saying that Moscow lacks the firepower that US forces possess.

This comes as Russia and China showcased their hypersonic weapons in the second half of Trump's term before the US renewed its programs for developing the advanced weapons in this class.

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Pompeo also said that, “The US has to approach Russia the same way we approach Communist China: distrust and verify.”

He blasted the approach taken by the Obama administration, arguing that he had coddled Moscow by gifting it "silly" reset buttons.

In 2009, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a button to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to mark a reboot of bilateral ties.

The overtures led to the signing of a crucial nuclear arms reduction treaty between the two states, but were ultimately upended after the US and allied meddled in Ukraine's domestic politics and accused Moscow of being behind the war in the eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Pompeo also claimed that the Trump administration had managed to undermine Russia's ability to "wield energy as a weapon" by boosting fracking efforts in the US and increasing the country's exports of oil and gas.

The top diplomat argued that there was "nothing like good ol' American fracking" in terms of putting additional "pressure on Putin", referring to the alleged impact that the new oil and gas extraction method had on global energy prices.

The oil prices plunged in 2020 due to drastic drop in economic activities and tourism caused by the coronavirus pandemic as well as the lapse of the OPEC+ agreement on output cuts.

Trump administration's sanctions against Venezuela and Iran also removed hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil daily from the global market.

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