PHOTO: Donald Trump and his designated National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn


The transition team for President-elect Donald Trump says Russia has invited the US to join the political talks at the end of January for a resolution of the Syrian crisis — but the announcement may be a cover story amid the controversy over Russian links with Trump and his advisors.

A transition official said the invitation was extended on December 28 by the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak, to Trump’s appointment for National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn.

On the surface, the Russian approach is both a reception of Trump and a further snub to the outgoing Obama Administration, which has been frozen out of the Syrian process since the autumn.

A Turkish-Russian reconcilation has sidelined the years of effort of US Secretary of State John Kerry to work with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a resolution. The attempts were finally buried by Moscow as it led the pro-Assad reoccupation of all of Aleppo city with imposition of a siege, bombing, and political maneuvers.

Russia then worked with Turkey for a deal to remove civilians and rebels from Aleppo, followed by a nominal ceasefire and the announcement of regime-opposition talks in Kazakhstan.

The Trump official said that “no decision was made” during the call, “I don’t have anything additional on U.S. attendance at this time.”

A spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday that the US would attend the talks.

Cover Story for Russia-Trump Controversy?

However, the timing of the Trump official’s intervention — more than two weeks after the supposed call — raises questions about whether it is an attempt to push away controversy over alleged Russian links of influence with the President-elect and his advisors.

See also US Analysis: Not Just a Lurid Dossier — The 3 Lines of Enquiry for “Russia Compromises Trump”
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Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote on Thursday, citing a “senior US government official”, that Flynn phoned Russian Ambassador Kislyak “several times” on December 29 — not December 28.

The day’s difference is significant because it was on December 29 that the Obama Administration announced the expulsion of 35 Russian officials and other sanctions in response to Russian hacking during the US election. The implication of the senior US official’s statement to Ignatius is that Flynn and Kislyak were discussing how to deal with the latest restrictions on Moscow.

On December 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised analysts by not ordering a tit-for-tat expulsion of US diplomats, and instead inviting their children to a Christmas party. Trump responded on Twitter, “Great move on delay (by V.Putin). I always knew he was very smart!”

Ignatius wrote on Thursday:

What did Flynn say, and did it undercut the US sanctions? The Logan Act (though never enforced) bars U.S. citizens from correspondence intending to influence a foreign government about “disputes” with the United States. Was its spirit violated?

FLYNN PUTIN

Michael Flynn sits beside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow dinner for Russian State broadcaster RT in 2015

The column soon received attention, not only for the sign of further Trump-Russian cooperation amid the hacking controversy but also for the escalation of the battle with the Obama Administration.

Observers asked how a senior official could have known of “several” calls from Flynn to Kislyak unless the Trump team’s communications — or the Russian Ambassador’s — were being monitored. That in turn raised speculation that the surveillance may have been authorized under a warrant from the secret “FISA” court, approached by the Obama Administration amid an investigation of the Trump team’s links to two Russian banks alleged to have channeled money to the President-elect’s campaign.

See US Analysis: Not Just a Lurid Dossier — The 3 Lines of Enquiry for “Russia Compromises Trump”

Three other sources “familiar with the matter” told Reuters that there were five calls. They said they did not know the content and “declined to say how they learned of them”.

Confusing Response from Trump Team

It was only after the reaction to Ignatius’ revelation that the Trump team — after initial refusal — responded with the line of a discussion over Syria and other matters:

The Trump transition team did not respond Thursday night to a request for comment. But two team members called with information Friday morning. A first Trump official confirmed that Flynn had spoken with Kislyak by phone, but said the calls were before sanctions were announced and didn’t cover that topic. This official later added that Flynn’s initial call was to express condolences to Kislyak after the terrorist killing of the Russian ambassador to Ankara Dec. 19, and that Flynn made a second call Dec. 28 to express condolences for the shoot-down of a Russian plane carrying a choir to Syria. In that second call, Flynn also discussed plans for a Trump-Putin conversation sometime after the inauguration.

In addition, a second Trump official said the Dec. 28 call included an invitation from Kislyak for a Trump administration official to visit Kazakhstan for a conference in late January.

Trump press spokesman Sean Spicer gave a different account to reporters. He said Flynn and Kislyak exchanged Christmas greetings via text on December 25. The subsequent call on December 28 began with a text message from Kislyak to Flynn asking for a phone conversation. Flynn responded positively, and Kislyak placed the call, which “centered on the logistics” of a post-inauguration call between Trump and Putin, Spicer said.

Another Trump official later told Reuters that there was one Flynn-Kislyak call on December 29, but this was “about setting up a telephone call between Trump and Putin” after the Presidential inauguration.

Publicly the State Department played down any consideration of inappropriate activity. Spokesman Mark Toner said, “This building doesn’t see anything necessarily inappropriate about contact between members of the incoming administration and foreign officials.”

One of Reuters’ three sources agreed, but the other two said “the timing of the calls raised a question about whether Flynn had given Kislyak any assurances to soothe Russian anger over the US moves”, breaching the terms of the Logan Act.

And White House spokesman Josh Earnest was cautious: “It depends on what they discussed.”