'Encouraging decision': Here are the Trump Cabinet picks Russia is most excited about

During the 1990s, hawkish neoconservatives hoped that then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin would enable post-Soviet Union Russia to transition into a full-fledged democracy. But neocons were bitterly disappointed when Yeltsin's far-right successor, Vladimir Putin, showed overtly authoritarian tendencies.

Neocons who greatly influenced U.S. foreign policy during the George W. Bush era were, on the whole, scathing critics of Putin. Yet when Donald Trump and the MAGA movement overtook the Republican Party in 2016, it wasn't uncommon to hear a new type of Republican defend Putin or even express their admiration for him. Trump and many of his MAGA supporters regard Putin as an ally — not an adversary — of the United States.

In an article published by the Washington Post on Thanksgiving 2024, journalist Mary Ilyushina describes Kremlin and Russian reactions to President-elect Trump's picks for his second administration.

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"Russian officials and media outlets have been closely watching President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks, meticulously tracking the nominees' positions on military aid to Ukraine and opinions of President Vladimir Putin, in hopes of predicting the policies of a president who is famously unpredictable," Ilyushina reports. "Officially, the Kremlin has taken a rather cool, wait-and-see approach to Trump's victory, weighing whether he would stick to his more conciliatory pre-election campaign rhetoric or be beholden to a largely anti-Russian security establishment. But in state media, there has been close scrutiny and sharp opinions of the picks."

Ilyushina goes on to discuss specific Trump picks, including former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (an ex-Democrat who is now a far-right MAGA Republican).

"Gabbard's planned appointment as the head of national intelligence elicited the most excitement in Russia because she has been long regarded as a darling of the propagandist Russian RT network, which amplified her sympathetic takes on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and Putin," Ilyushina notes. "Following the announcement, the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda published an op-ed titled 'The CIA and FBI Are Trembling: Why Trump Protégé Tulsi Gabbard Will Support Russia As Head of National Intelligence.'"

Russia-based politician Oleg Tsarev described Trump's decision to nominate Gabbard as "an encouraging decision."

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But Keith Kellogg, Trump's choice for a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, has, according to Ilyushina, gotten a "lukewarm reaction in Moscow." And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), who Trump is proposing for secretary of state, was described as "an outspoken American Cold War imperialist" by pro-Kremlin blogger Oleg Yasinsky.

Pro-Kremlin pundits, according to Ilyushina, view Fox News star Pete Hegseth — Trump's choice for defense secretary — as an "eccentric" character who will "troll the deep state."

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Read Mary Ilyushina's full article for the Washington Post at this link (subscription needed).