A Russian Intrusion In 2016 Politics

With guest host Sacha Pfeiffer.

The U.S.-Russia relationship, this time with evidence that Russia meddled in our election, and with assurances from Trump that Russia would not go into Ukraine.

Not long ago Russia seemed like just a Cold War-era enemy, a threat of the past. But now it’s posing a new kind of concern: land grabs, power plays, allegations it hacked into Democratic emails to manipulate the US presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. Some analysts say our relationship with Russia is worse than at any point since Gorbachev. This hour On Point, U.S.-Russia relations and whether the Cold War is alive and well. — Sacha Pfeiffer

Cameron Abadi, senior editor at Foreign Policy Magazine. (@cameronabadi)

Angela Stent, director of the Center for Eurasia, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University. Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Author of “The Limits of Partnership.” (@angelastent)

Jarno Limnéll, professor of cybersecurity at Aalot University. Former Finish Defense Forces officer. Author of “Cybersecurity for Decision Makers.” (@JarnoLim)

Foreign Policy: Ukrainian Officials to Donald Trump: Please Stop Talking About Our Country — "In a Sunday interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News 'This Week,' Trump tried to wiggle his way out of questions about Russian involvement in Ukraine by saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin 'is not going into Ukraine'  — even though it’s widely understood that Russian troops moved into the Crimean peninsula and eastern Ukraine in 2014."

New York Times: How Paul Manafort Wielded Power in Ukraine Before Advising Donald Trump — "It is far from certain that Mr. Manafort’s views have directly shaped Mr. Trump’s, since Mr. Trump spoke favorably of Mr. Putin’s leadership before Mr. Manafort joined the campaign. But it is clear that the two have a shared view of Russia and neighbors like Ukraine — an affection, even — that, in Mr. Manafort’s case, has been shaped by years of business dealings as much as by any policy or ideology."

The Guardian: Donald Trump and Russia: a web that grows more tangled all the time — "The coordinator of the Washington diplomatic corps for the Republicans in Cleveland was Frank Mermoud, a former state department official involved in business ventures in Ukraine via Cub Energy, a Black Sea-focused oil and gas company of which he is a director. He is also on the board of the US Ukraine Business Council."