Former intelligence chief: Russians ‘bear full responsibility’ for bad relations with US

Former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte said in a radio interview broadcast Sunday that Russians “bear full responsibility” for worsening relations with the United States.

{mosads}Negroponte told host John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” on AM 970 in New York that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “primary concern is to assert influence over the former Soviet republics – what they call ‘the near abroad.’”

“And I think that’s what explains his behavior in Georgia five or six years ago,” Negroponte added. “And it explains what he’s been doing in the Ukraine, [and] the seizure of the Crimea.” 

“I certainly wouldn’t hold the United States responsible for the fact that relations between us and Russia have taken a turn for the worse,” Negroponte said, citing efforts by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations to strengthen ties with Russia. “I think the Russians bear full responsibility for that.”

“We are an indispensable nation, and we must live up to that responsibility,” he added, in an apparent reference to Obama’s current policy.

Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday said the U.S. and its European allies are united in a focus on diplomacy to ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

“We are united, we are working closely together,” Kerry said at a Munich security conference.

“We all agree that this challenge will not end through military force,” he added. “We are united in our diplomacy.”

Bipartisan lawmakers from both sides of the Capitol, however, pressured the administration last week to provide weapons to Ukraine to counter Russian aggression.

Negroponte also said in Sunday’s interview that Saudi Arabia will “feel compelled to act” in response to the new Iran-backed regime in neighboring Yemen.

“It’s not only the fact of being Shiite, but the fact that it … creates an opportunity for Iran to meddle in this country [Yemen] that not only borders on Saudi Arabia, but also borders on the Red Sea and controls the access … to the Suez Canal,” he said.