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Report: Putin Sought to Reset Russia’s U.S. Relationship

Asked to immediately restore channels that had been severed after Russian military action in Ukraine and Syria.

Earlier this year Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a reset of relations between the United States and Russia across all major branches of government, BuzzFeed News reported on Tuesday. According to documents detailing the proposal, a Russian diplomat asked the U.S. State Department for an immediate restoration of the diplomatic, military, and intelligence channels that had been severed after Russia intervened in Ukraine and Syria. The documents reportedly show a proposal for several meetings between the two countries to discuss areas of mutual interest. “It just ignores everything that caused the relationship to deteriorate and pretends that the election interference and the Ukraine crisis never happened,” said Angela Stent, a former national intelligence officer on Russia during the George W. Bush administration. “When the Russians submitted this proposal, they were under the impression that Trump would do what he said he would do: Make a deal with Putin and normalize relations.”