On This Day In 2017
Trump encourages the U.S. to share information technology with the FSB, Russia’s security police
Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, is a successor to the notorious KGB
After evidence emerged that the FSB had spearheaded Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 Trump/Clinton election contest, the Obama Administration slapped sanctions on the FSB.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Trump jumped to remove those sanctions just two weeks after taking office. As CBS reported OTDI 2017, “The (Trump) Treasury Department published a license that authorizes certain transactions between U.S. companies and the FSB, Russia’s security service, and for the importation, distribution or use of ‘certain information technology products in the Russian Federation.’ Such transactions had been prohibited under Obama administration sanctions imposed on Russia.”
It's hard not to view Trumpian decisions like these through the lens of "Why was Putin so eager to see Trump win that 2016 election?"
BTW: Operatives from the FSB would later go on to poison Putin critic Alexei Navalny, among other atrocities.
Check it out on CBS News
Photo credit, newspaper filter: © Vyacheslav Argenberg
Trump encourages sharing IT with Russia's FSB