WASHINGTON: Russia is likely to be more aggressive in global affairs and more unpredictable towards the US, a top American spymaster has said, a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met President Donald Trump at the White House.Daniel Coats, the director of the National Intelligence, said that the US intelligence community assess that Russia will also be more authoritarian in its domestic policies.During the Congressional hearing yesterday before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Coats said, "We assess that Russia is likely to be more aggressive in global affairs, more unpredictable in its approach to the US. "Russians have spread this across the globe," he said, adding that the Russian interference in their political system was the main topic of discussion when he met the Prime Minister of Montenegro, which is the latest nation to join. "So it sweeps across Europe and other places. It's clear though, the Russians have upped their game using social media and other opportunities that in ways that we haven't seen before. "It's a great threat to our democratic process and our job here is to provide the best intelligence we can to the policy makers as they develop a strategy in terms of how to best reflect a response to this," Coats said.

Source: Economic Times May 12, 2017 03:45 UTC