Despite the double blows of new U.S. sanctions on Russia and Moscow's retaliation, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson still has hope for better relations with Russia. As ABC News wrote in an article "Trump admin still seeks cooperation with Russia despite new sanctions and retaliation", the top U.S. diplomat took a step toward that goal on Sunday, meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a major summit in Manila, Philippines.
The face-to-face meeting is the first since President Trump last week begrudgingly signed into law legislation that not only sanctions Russia, Iran, and North Korea, but also ties the president's hands from making changes to the penalties without congressional approval. The meeting between the two envoys Sunday also followed Moscow's retaliating over the new sanctions by seizing two American diplomatic properties and ordering a huge cut in the U.S. diplomatic staff by over 700. It's unclear how many of those in the U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia are Americans. The majority are Russian locals employed by the American government. But Lavrov reportedly explained to Tillerson how Russia plans to follow through on its demand for a U.S. personnel cut, according to public remarks by the longtime Russian foreign minister after the meeting. Lavrov also said the Trump administration is ready to push forward toward cooperation -- something Tillerson has also said he wants.
"We felt the readiness of our U.S. colleagues to continue dialogue. I think there's no alternative to that," Lavrov said Sunday. That echoed what Tillerson told reporters Tuesday, "We can’t let [sanctions] take us off track of trying to restore the relationship." During a photo-op before their meeting, Tillerson and Lavrov shared smiles and some pleasantries, but both ignored a question on how the new sanctions will impact their talks. The American side has not provided a readout of the meeting, but Tillerson's senior aide R.C. Hammond said in an email to ABC News that "Day 1" at the summit in Manila was "productive... Still a lot to do."
The Trump administration has been seeking closer ties to Russia, especially on fighting ISIS and pressuring North Korea. But between Trump's praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his skepticism of the U.S. intelligence community's finding that Russia interfered in the U.S. election, the Republican-controlled Congress took extraordinary measures to curtail the power of a president from their own party. Tillerson has made clear that he and Trump did not support the legislation, but would enforce it now that it's law.
Still, the Kremlin and the White House will try to move past the hurdles to work together on Syria and Ukraine. Lavrov announced that Tillerson's special envoy for Ukraine negotiations, former ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker, will travel to Russia soon to discuss the conflict. And the two countries continue to discuss expanding their limited cease-fire with Jordan in Syria's southwest corner, weeks after it was implemented and which has seen few violations.
As Russian Foreign Ministry reports, during their meeting Lavrov and Tillerson discussed the situation concerning Russian-US relations, with Mr Lavrov noting that the US decision to impose new sanctions on Russia is the latest in a series of unfriendly steps that could jeopardise international stability and deals a powerful blow to prospects for bilateral cooperation. "Unsurprisingly, Russia cannot simply ignore action of this kind, including the unlawful seizure of Russian diplomatic property since December last year. Russia will respond accordingly in the future. At the same time, we are ready to normalise relations if Washington abandons its confrontational line. Other issues discussed included the situation on the Korean Peninsula following the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2371 on August 5. Mr Lavrov said that US military preparations in the Korean Peninsula area are only escalating tension and this should be avoided. The next stages in settling the Syrian conflict were discussed too, including steps to build on the memorandum on establishing a de-escalation zone in Syria’s southwest, agreed between Russia, the United States and Jordan in July. Mr Lavrov reiterated the need to respect in full Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the provisions of the UN Security Council resolutions that lay the foundations for advancing the political process. Other current international matters, including the internal conflict in Ukraine, were also discussed," the Ministry wrote.
