Moscow is "resigned" to a Hillary Clinton presidential victory, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia says.
In an interview with The Hill, Michael McFaul said he's "totally convinced that the Russians now have made an assessment that Secretary Clinton is likely to win."
"I think they have — you know, are resigned to the fact that they are going to have to start dealing with President-elect Clinton," the Stanford University professor said.
It's not an outcome Russian President Vladimir Putin wants, according to McFaul.
The Russian president prefers that Donald Trump be in the White House, sharing common ground with Trump's remarks about looking into recognizing Crimea as part of Russia and about renegotiating America's relationship with its European allies.
He's also taken note that Trump has "made very clear" that he doesn't want to talk about democracy and human rights, McFaul told The Hill.
"That's music to Putin's ears," he told the outlet.
And he most certainly doesn't want Clinton in the White House, McFaul said.
"They know her well.... And she's going to be a tough interlocutor, but she's going to be an interlocutor," he told The Hill. "She's not going to say, 'Let's call Russia the evil empire and stop talking to them.'"
"I already see tidbits that they're beginning to move towards that realization that on Jan. 21, she's the likely person they're going to have to deal with, and there's very little they can do to change that outcome," he said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.