US President Donald Trump has called for improved ties with Moscow.
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“We are very, very optimistic about our ability to overcome the many challenges we face in the region”.
Rex Tillerson is in Germany for a meeting with G20 leaders on his first foreign trip as U.S. secretary of state.
When Trump decided over a dinner to approve a special forces counter-terrorist raid in Yemen, there was no one from the state department present who would normally have highlighted the dangers of civilian casualties from such operations for wider U.S. interests in the region.
But Tillerson’s State Department has been sidelined in numerous Trump administration’s key decisions.
But Russia’s proposals come at a fraught time for the USA administration. And there will be penetrating inquiries from America’s watchful rivals like Russian Federation and China, who will be eager to seize on any miscues or gaffes for their own advantage.
The meeting between the two leaders comes at a time when White House is presently embroiled in a controversy surrounding Russian links of former national security advisor Michael Flynn’s that led to the his resignation. “Top envoy keeps head down and travels light”, a New York Times headline asked during the two-day Bonn G20 foreign ministers’ meeting where hundreds of journalists milled around waiting for news.
Trump has said previously he would be open to anti-terror cooperation with Russian Federation.
Earlier, President Vladimir Putin called for restoring links between U.S. and Russian intelligence agencies to face common problems such as terrorism. Bloomberg reports that the two sat down, and Lavrov delivered his opening remarks, congratulating Tillerson on his job.
Several US investigations are under way into alleged meddling by Russian intelligence services in favour of Trump during last year’s elections, charges the president has angrily dismissed as nonsense. Mr Gabriel said the “like-minded” countries had agreed to step up pressure on Russian Federation to back a political solution and reaffirmed there could be no alternative to the UN-led Geneva talks. Long-held USA stances on NATO, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, Iran and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seemed likely to be up for debate in a new administration.
But senior state department officials said that Mr Tillerson would not soften Washington’s position on Russia’s interventions in Ukraine, a crisis which remains unresolved. One meeting focuses on the worsening situation in Yemen, where a US -backed, Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels believed to be supported by Iran.
But Mr Trump wants closer cooperation with Moscow in the fight against ISIL in Syria and is less concerned about what happens to Mr Al Assad.
During a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation defense meeting yesterday, USA defense secretary James Mattis explained that while the US would support the bloc, other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies needed to increase their defense spending or the USA would start to “moderate” its commitment to the organization.
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Attention now shifts to the more high-profile Munich Security Conference where US Vice-President Mike Pence will make his worldwide debut.
