Pence: White House ‘hopeful’ Moscow will change behavior

Vice President Pence said Sunday he is hopeful the Kremlin will change its behavior toward other nations, as President Trump prepares to slap new sanctions on Russia.

“The president has made it very clear that Russia’s destabilizing activities and support for rogue regimes and its activities in Ukraine are unacceptable. The president made it clear that very soon he will sign sanctions from the Congress to reinforce that,” the vice president said in an interview with Fox News from Estonia.

{mosads}“But at the same time as we make our intentions clear that we expect Russian behavior to change, the president and I remain very hopeful that we’ll see very different behavior from the Russian government,” Pence added.

Pence is currently in Estonia on the first leg of a three-part trip. He’ll go to Georgia and Montenegro next in an effort to reassure NATO allies during a time of increased Russia aggression in eastern Europe.

The vice president’s comments come as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered 755 U.S. diplomats to leave Russia, in a Sunday interview with a Russian television station, in retaliation for U.S. sanctions, according to The New York Times.