Next U.S. President’s Toughest Assignment Will Be Putin

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-27/next-u-s-president-s-toughest-assignment-will-be-vladimir-putin?utm_source=CGI+Daily+Russia+Brief&utm_campaign=a3699f4ec4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_10_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_814a2b3260-a3699f4ec4-281717789&mc_cid=a3699f4ec4&mc_eid=fac81ed64d
Whoever wins the U.S. election less than two weeks away is going have a rough time managing the relationship with Russia.
At an annual gathering of Russia specialists, President Vladimir Putin didn’t just deliver his by now familiar tirade against perceived U.S. wrongdoings on the global stage, he also detailed why he feels it is no longer worth trying to work with Washington.
“It is impossible to agree with you. What is agreed is not implemented,” Putin said of the U.S., speaking through a simultaneous translator during a panel and question-and-answer session that lasted three hours.
Looking more relaxed and confident than in recent years, Putin cited examples going back to an alleged verbal agreement by the U.S. not to enlarge the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He also dwelled on a recent and short-lived truce in Syria. That cease-fire, he said, collapsed when the U.S. promised and failed to separate moderate Syrian rebels from terrorist groups in Aleppo and instead bombed a Syrian army base that killed more than 60 soldiers.
The U.S. has said that attack was an error, and that Russia should have given the peace effort more time before resuming hostilities. Secretary of State John Kerry has said the bombing of Aleppo could amount to war crimes.
The attacks on U.S. administrations past and present did not stop there. Putin went on to say Russia was sick of the high-handed treatment by Americans over the past quarter of a century: Instead of being consulted as an equal partner, Russia would be presented with decisions as faits accomplis.