A top Russian official on Tuesday warned the Trump administration against taking over the Panama Canal after the president stated in his inaugural address that he intended to regain control of the strategic waterway.
Since the election, President Donald Trump has mentioned on several occasions that the United States should reassert control over the canal, which was built by Americans and controlled by the U.S. government until the Carter administration. Panama’s president has said that his government will not give up control of the canal.
Trump’s comments prompted a response from Alexander Shchetinin, head of the Latin American department at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who said that Moscow expects the leadership of Panama and the Trump administration to respect the “current international legal regime of this key waterway” during any discussions about control of the Panama Canal, according to a translation of comments reported by Russia’s state-run news agency TASS….