Leonid Bershidsky, Columnist

Putin Is Getting All He Ever Wanted From Trump

As long as Trump is mired in White House scandal, he can't pressure Moscow on a number of fronts.

February 14, 2017 at 2:50 PM UTC

Leonid Bershidsky, formerly Bloomberg Opinion’s Europe columnist, is a member of the Bloomberg News Automation Team. He recently published Russian translations of George Orwell’s “1984” and Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.”

1487081925_GettyImages-626451980 — Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

The resignation of U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn shows how toxic any connection with Russia has become in Washington. It would be tempting to say the alleged help in getting Donald Trump elected has backfired for Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that is not the case: So far, he's been getting exactly what he wants from the U.S.

Flynn was forced to resign ostensibly because he had inaccurately described the content of his phone calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, which took place before Trump's inauguration. He was a liability to the administration in any case, because he seemed unable to get along with the Central Intelligence Agency. But it will stick in the public mind that Flynn went because he was too close to the Russians. "Russian for the Exit," trumpeted the front page of the New York Daily News.