In an interview with the BBC, Clinton spun her Russian “Reset” policy as a “brilliant stroke.”
Actually Clinton’s spin that the “Reset” ended with Putin returning to the role of Russian President belies her own words. In 2012, nearly six months after Putin assumed office, Clinton defended Russia against Republican criticism of the “Reset” declaring, “Russia has been an ally.”
BBC TRANSCRIPT
QUESTION: “You famously pressed the reset button. Are you embarrassed by that now, that gesture?”
CLINTON: “No I think it was a brilliant stroke which in retrospect it appears even more so, because look at what we accomplished. Between the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008, which of course torpedoed relations between United States and the Russia for good reason. We come into office, and for that period of time, the interregnum if you will, Medvedev is President, Putin is Prime Minister, and there were jobs that we wanted to get done. We wanted to get Russia on board with tough sanctions against Iran. We wanted to have a new START Treaty to limit nuclear weapons. We wanted to get their help in transiting across through huge country to get things we needed into Afghanistan. We got all that done. Putin comes back. Look where we are now. He invaded another country, so yes, but while we had that moment, we seized it, we used it, and succeeded.”