At a time when U.S.-Russia relations are at an extreme low, Tuesday’s nomination hearing for the new U.S. Ambassador to Russia attracted less than a full house in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The nominee, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, told the Senators this is a “critical period” in U.S.-Russia relations. From Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to its annexation of Crimea in 2014 to its continued involvement in Syria, where it supports the Bashar al-Assad regime, relations between Washington and the Kremlin feel like a return to the bad old days of the Cold War.
“Interference in the U.S. election has led directly to the current low level of trust in the relationship,” said Huntsman, stressing that “there is no question that the Russian government interfered in the U.S. election last year.”
A declassified report by the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a cyber and influence campaign aimed at boosting candidate Donald Trump’s chances of winning.
“It’s a powerful symbol when you get the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the CIA, the head of the NSA, the head of the FBI [to] come together in unison behind their findings,” commented Huntsman, noting that it’s rare that this kind of uniformity happens.
But questions swirl about how Huntsman will do his job adequately with a U.S. president who has consistently questioned Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
As recently as July, President Trump said, “I think it could very well have been Russia. I think it could well have been other countries. I won’t be specific. But I think a lot of people interfere. Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure.”
Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT) asked Huntsman how he will balance showing the Russians that he believes they undeniably interfered and representing a government led by a president who questions that.
Huntsman said he would rely on the intelligence agencies’ assessment, while noting that there is “nothing more important than the integrity of your election process at the localist [sic] of levels, [and] to work to undercut or subvert or sow seeds of doubt or distrust about that system is the highest level of injury that I think can be laid on any local election system.”
Congress responded to Moscow’s election meddling by passing an expanded sanctions package in July that aimed to punish Russia for its military interventions in Ukraine and Syria. Trump signed this measure into law – but also complained that lawmakers overstepped their constitutional boundaries and hindered his ability to negotiate with foreign countries.
Ukraine, according to Huntsman, will be key to any progress with Russia. “The main highway that leads to an improvement in U.S.-Russia relations I think goes right through Ukraine,” said Huntsman, and that means upholding the Minsk process. The Minsk Protocol, signed in September 2014 by representatives of both Moscow and Kiev, aimed to stop the fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region by implementing an immediate ceasefire. That measure failed, and in February 2015, a new Minsk agreement was signed. The war in the Donbas is ongoing.
“We have to convince Russia both bilaterally and multilaterally through our friends and allies, particularly NATO, that aggression doesn’t pay, and there will be a response,” said Huntsman.
Still, there are other areas where the U.S. and Russia are already making progress, he said. In Syria, Trump and Putin signed a deal a few months ago with Jordan for a ceasefire in the southwest part of the country. And on North Korea, Huntsman said the U.S. and Russia have some “overlapping and common interests.” Both countries want greater safety in the region, he said, and both have concerns over nuclear proliferation. The latest UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea were backed by Russia and China, where Huntsman was the U.S. Ambassador from 2009-2011. “I’m heartened by the support on the last round of sanctions,” he said.
However, there remains a “trust deficit” between the U.S. and Russia, Huntsman noted, and the deployment of additional U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launchers to South Korea, after the North launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on July 28, has caused consternation in both Russia and China.
Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, the committee’s ranking member, at the end of Huntsman’s hearing stressed, “Enforcement of the sanctions [against] North Korea – very important. Enforcement of the sanctions against Russia – very important. So we’re going to need your help in enforcing the sanctions.”
The nomination hearing lasted only about an hour – with an interruption in the middle, as the Senate had to go vote on a U.S. solicitor general candidate. But even with the hearing’s brevity, a democratic aide on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told The Cipher Brief that Cardin “took the opportunity once they were all back to really hammer home on some of the interference issues” – insisting that the hearing’s length did not reflect a lack of importance.
Senators now have until Thursday to submit questions on the record for Huntsman to answer before deciding whether to approve his nomination.
Huntsman is highly regarded by both Democrats and Republicans as a qualified candidate – serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore under President George H.W. Bush, in addition to his post as Ambassador to China in the Obama Administration – and is expected to be confirmed.
Kaitlin Lavinder is a reporter at The Cipher Brief. Follow her on Twitter @KaitLavinder.
