"Many here believe that she would be tougher on Russia than Obama," he said. Since Clinton’s departure, Putin has reasserted Russia on the world stage, seizing Ukraine’s Crimea region and intervening militarily in Syria’s civil war. In front of the TV cameras, however, Putin railed against U.S. trade and economic policies as Clinton watched. "Secretary Clinton's views on Russia were always a little harder-edged than President Obama's," said John Beyrle, Obama's first ambassador to Moscow. But he faulted Clinton and Obama's team for not doing more to "actively reach out to Putin and open lines of communication."

Source: The Star September 20, 2016 05:03 UTC