Russia Relieved With Trump Victory, Quiets Fears A Clinton Win Would Lead To Conflict

News out of Russia from political insiders to the average man on the street indicates that the giant nation issued a collective sigh of relief last week when it was announced that Republican candidate Donald Trump had actually won the election for America’s president. Simply put, Russians were dreading a presidency under Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton. In fact, they feared growing tensions between Russia and the U.S., and an eventual war, perhaps one that could easily escalate into a mutually destructive conflict.

As most media outlets ran stories on Russian leaders expressing their relief that Donald Trump had won the U.S. presidential election, NBC News reported that the relief that there was less chance of a third world war was shared by the average Russian as well. The views of a dangerously antagonistic America under the leadership of Hillary Clinton were widespread prior to the election, given the attention that Russian media gave the contest.

Alexei Kolin, who was recently discharged from the Russian military, has hope that the tension in Russia will be alleviated by Trump’s victory.

“I hope it will be less [of a chance of war], because bad things are happening in the Russian army. The new draftees … are told that Americans are evil and taught to kill.”

Kolin, 21, added, “I think if [Trump] won, the chance of war will be less — it’s very big now.”

Not only have relations between the U.S. and Russia become tense over the past few years, especially since Russia’s military annexation of Crimea in 2014, and its subsequent encroachments and military buildup on the Ukraine border, but the Russian media had vilified the United States during the same time period. As the Inquisitr has reported, Russian state-operated outlets have led the propaganda surge in stories of American aggression and diplomatic duplicity, not to mention running numerous fear-inducing accounts of nuclear war preparedness.

The fact that Russia and the United States set up on opposite sides in the Syrian civil war has not helped diminish those fears, either, according to a report by the Inquisitr. News of an imminent conflict has become standard fare for Russians, supported by media outlets from the West that warn that even the slightest confrontation, such as a mishap between aircraft in the crowded skies over Syria, could spark a nuclear war with the U.S.

Add to this, the general and public disfavor with which President Vladimir Putin and Russian leaders regard Hillary Clinton, whom they have dealt with as U.S. President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State. A Clinton presidency was seen as a continuation of the Obama administration’s foreign policies, some of which were economically strangling Russia, especially the sanctions imposed by Western nations after the Crimean annexation.

Donald Trump, however, was — and is — seen as a friendlier political figure in Russia. He has said several times during his campaign that he would like to see better relations with the Russian Federation, and he and Putin have swapped mutual admiration statements as well.

As the Inquisitr has noted, Russian political leaders were very vocal before the election about their concerns that a Hillary Clinton presidency would push the two nations toward conflict. And Donald Trump had no problem slamming his opponent as someone who could very well initiate — or continue — foreign policy decisions that would lead to the U.S. and Russia becoming involved in World War 3.

Sergei Glazyev, an aide to President Putin, told Lenta (per the Daily Mail) after the election that Clinton being elected would have eventually led to Russia and the United States going to war.

“Americans had two choices: World War Three or multilateral peace. Clinton was a symbol of war, and Trump has a chance to change this course.”

Glazyev’s hopes were echoed by fellow Putin aide Vyacheslav Volodin, who said that the end of the Obama administration would be “an end to the problems it caused between the Kremlin and Washington,” which included the aforementioned economic sanctions levied against Russia by the U.S. and the European Union.

Volodin said: “Sanctions are the tool used by the weak. With sanctions you can’t have mutual respect.”

It is, of course, unclear if the forthcoming Donald Trump presidency will see an elimination — or even a decrease — in sanctions against Russia. But as the now president-elect works on the transition between an outgoing Obama administration and the establishing of his own, Russia, at least for now, appears to be entertaining a less pessimistic view of its future relations with U.S.

[Featured Image by Karasev Victor/Shutterstock]