MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. Former US ambassador Michael McFaul, currently on the sidelines of big politics, has resorted to hardline anti-Russian rhetoric, apparently hoping it may work as a reminder of his existence and help him get back into a future US Administration, should Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton emerge the winner in the forthcoming presidential election. This is the gist of what experts polled by TASS said following McFaul’s interview in the Estonian newspaper Postimees, in which he calls for "curbing" Russia and for NATO’s further eastward expansion.

McFaul accused Russia of "annexation" of Crimea and of undermining the Ukrainian economy. He argues that the West should do its utmost to counteract. He added that Russia wished to scare NATO’s newly-adopted members in Eastern and Central Europe by dangerous flights over the Baltic Sea and threats against Romania for its consent to host the US anti-ballistic missile defense.

Nothing new

Deputy Director of the Institute of US and Canada Studies, Valery Garbuzov, recalls that the idea of containing Russia was not new in the United States. But in the wake of Crimea’s re-unification with Russia and the Ukrainian crisis this call has been made with amazing regularity. McFaul has just repeated it once again to cater to the US ruling circles’ tastes.

"NATO is the main instrument of Russia’s containment, so McFaul has appealed to the intention of the alliance’s leadership to deploy more battalions in East European countries. As NATO has begun a large-scale exercise in Poland with 10,000 US troops taking part, McFaul argues that the alliance should strengthen its positions in the east in view of a threat coming from Russia. Moreover, it should be remembered that Warsaw will host a NATO summit in July, so McFaul is keen to formulate its anti-Russian agenda in advance," Garbuzov told TASS.

"Relations reset" champion proves hawk