Tillerson says U.S.-Russia relations 'under considerable stress' ahead of talks with Lavrov

Record ID: 904809

  • Title: Tillerson says U.S.-Russia relations 'under considerable stress' ahead of talks with Lavrov
  • Date: 1st August 2017
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (AUGUST 1, 2017) (STATE TV) WIDE SHOT U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE REX TILLERSON ADDRESSING REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, REX TILLERSON, SAYING: "The relationship, as you know, on Russia continues to be under considerable stress. As I indicated in my first trip to Moscow and meetings at the Kremlin with President Putin following those meetings, the relationship was at a historic low since the end of the Cold War, and it could get worse. And the question, I think, of the events of the last week or so is: is it getting worse or can we maintain some level of stability in that relationship and continue to find ways to address areas of mutual interest and ways in which we can deal with our differences without those becoming open conflicts as well?" REPORTER ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, REX TILLERSON, SAYING: "We have explored in the early days one area of mutual interest, which is terrorism. And we've chosen the theater in Syria as a place in which we test our ability to work together. We share the common view of ISIS as a threat to both of our countries, and so we are committed to the defeat of ISIS, Daesh, other terrorist organizations. And then we are committed to the stability of Syria following the battle to defeat ISIS. Clearly, Russia has aligned itself early on in the conflict with the Syrian regime and Bashar al-Assad, which we find to be unacceptable. So, we're working with Russia through, how do we achieve the end state, which is a unified Syria, not divided, but a Syria that has the opportunity for the Syrian people to put in place a new constitution, have free and fair elections and select a new leadership. And it continues to be our view that the Assad regime has no role in the future governing of Syria. The sequencing of all of that we're open to, as long as that's what is achieved at the end. The second condition we have is that Iran's military influence - the direct presence of Iranian military forces inside of Syria, they must leave and go home." REPORTER ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, REX TILLERSON, SAYING: "It is our hope that this first zone of de-confliction will hold with the Russian's assistance and the Russians delivering on their commitments and that we can find ways to replicate this and other areas in particular in the northern part of Syria as we continue to liberate areas from ISIS." REPORTER ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, REX TILLERSON, SAYING: "Now the action by the Congress to put these sanctions in place and the way they did, neither the president nor I were very happy about that. We were clear that we didn't think it was going to be helpful to our efforts. But that's the decision they made. They made it in a very overwhelming way. I think the president accepts that, and all indications are he will sign that, that bill, and then we'll just work with it. You know, and that's kind of my view. We'll work with it; we got it. We can't let it take us off track of trying to restore the relationship." REPORTER ASKING QUESTION VARIOUS OF TILLERSON EXITING
  • Embargoed: 15th August 2017 20:20
  • Keywords: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson U.S.-Russia relations Russia sanctions
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016SBTJRB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S.-Russia relationship was "under considerable stress" but that the United States would continue to concentrate on areas of mutual interest such as defeating terrorism.
    "We've chosen the theater in Syria as a place in which we test our ability to work together," he told reporters at the daily State Department briefing on Tuesday (August 1).
    Tillerson said he would meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Manila at the weekend, their first meeting since Russia ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic staff by 755.
    He said he had talked to Lavrov by phone and would be meeting with him face to face this weekend on the margins of meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila.
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