Russian lawmakers: Flynn pushed out to hurt Russia-U.S. relations
Russian lawmakers on Tuesday said that Michael Flynn was made a scapegoat for those who oppose closer relations with Russia.
President Trump's national security adviser resigned Monday after admitting he provided "incomplete information" about whether he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the ambassador to the U.S. before Trump took office. Flynn blamed the "the fast pace of events" for his inaccurate characterization of what was discussed with Sergey Kislyak.
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But Alexei Pushkov, a Russian parliamentarian, tweeted after the announcement that “it was not Flynn who was targeted but relations with Russia."
And Leonid Slutsky, head of the lower house of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, told Russian media that "It's obvious that Flynn was forced to write the letter of resignation under a certain amount of pressure .... The target was Russia-U.S. relations, undermining confidence in the new U.S. administration."
Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, put the blame more on Trump.
In a post on Facebook, Kosachev said that what led to Flynn's resignation was "not just paranoia but something even worse .... Either Trump hasn’t found the necessary independence and he’s been driven into a corner… or russophobia has permeated the new administration from top to bottom."
The Kremlin previously said U.S. sanctions on Russia weren't discussed with Flynn.
Private citizens, which Flynn was at the time of his phone call with the ambassador, are not allowed to partake in diplomatic discussions about U.S. policy. Trump named Lt. General Joseph Keith Kellogg, Jr., as acting national security adviser.