Obama urges Trump to stand up to Russia

President Barack Obama urged his successor Thursday to stand up for American values in his dealings with Russia and avoid taking a more practical, “realpolitik approach.”

“I've sought a constructive relationship with Russia but what I have also been is realistic in recognizing there is some significant differences in how Russia views the world and how we view the world,” Obama said at a joint press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.


He added: “And my hope is the president-elect coming in takes a similarly constructive approach: Finding areas where we can cooperate with Russia, where our values and interests align" but be "willing to stand up to Russia where they are deviating from our values and international norms.”

Obama has taken significant steps to moderate his tone toward Trump since his election on Nov. 8. As he did Thursday in Berlin, Obama has couched any criticism of Trump with a “wait and see” approach. But his comments on Russia were perhaps his most direct attempt to convince his successor to hew to his line on foreign policy.

"We should all hope for a Russia that is successful,” Obama said -- rooting for its people to be employed, its economy to grow and for it to have good relationships with neighboring nations.

But Russia also diverges sharply from the U.S. on values like democracy, freedom of speech, international sovereignty and territorial integrity, he noted. "Those things are not something that we can set aside,” the president told reporters, and urged Trump not to ignore them.

“I don't expect that the president-elect will follow exactly our approach, but my hope is he does not simply take a realpolitik approach and suggest that, you know, if we just cut some deals with Russia, even if it hurts people or even if it violates international norms or even if it leaves smaller countries vulnerable, or creates long-term problems in regions like Syria, that we just do whatever's convenient at the time,” Obama said.

The president was particularly critical of Russia's involvement in Syria's ongoing civil war. He said Russia has been a destabilizing influence in Syria, where the Russian military maintains its only foreign military base outside the former Soviet bloc. Obama did not mention Moscow's decision to pull out of the International Criminal Court, announced Wednesday.

Throughout the campaign, Trump was decidedly warmer towards Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, than Obama or other Republicans have been. He lionized Putin in speeches and interviews, calling him a "stronger leader" than Obama, and refused to blame the Kremlin for cyberattacks against the U.S. even after federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies had officially done so. In one press conference, he invited Russian hackers to find emails deleted by Hillary Clinton -- though his campaign later said he was joking. Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, resigned over the summer after secret ledgers discovered in Ukraine showed millions of dollars in payments designated for him from a pro-Russian political party there.

Several top Republicans have warned Trump not to get too cozy with Russia as president.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) cautioned the president-elect to stand "on the side of those fighting tyranny" and not with "a former KGB agent who has plunged his country into tyranny." Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called for a congressional investigation into Russia's "misadventures throughout the world" and said "Putin should be punished" if Russia did indeed hack into the Democratic National Committee and other political targets.

Trump has denied having any relationship with Putin and has criticized Obama and Clinton, who as secretary of state presided over a "reset" of relations with Moscow, for their handling of Russia. He has said he will get along better with Putin, who called the president-elect shortly after he was elected to congratulate him.

The two men spoke last Monday, Trump's transition team said, discussing current roadblocks to U.S.-Russian relations, economic issues and the history of ties between the two countries. A Kremlin readout of their conversation said that Putin and Trump agreed to normalize the frayed relations between the two nations, which are in a "very poor state." Trump's team noted that the real estate mogul said he is looking forward to "a strong and enduring relationship with Russia and the people of Russia."

A Kremlin aide told the Russian state-owned media outlet TASS that the relationship between the two nations under the incoming administration "will be one on the agenda" when Secretary of State John Kerry, who is all but certain to depart with Obama, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meet in Peru this week.

On Syria, where the current U.S. administration has been trying without much success to broker a ceasefire with Russia's help, Obama acknowledged in Thursday's news conference that it would be "naive" to "suggest there's going to be a sudden 180-degree turn in policy by either Assad or Russia or Iran at this point." But he said the U.S. would continue to push for humanitarian solutions while putting the onus on Russia, ultimately, to change its position.

"The way this is going to be resolved is going to have to be a recognition by Russia and a willingness to pressure Assad that a lasting durable peace with a functioning country requires the consent of people," Obama said. "You cannot purchase people's consent through killing them. They haven't made that transition yet. But we're going to keep on trying."