Today, at a difficult time for the diplomatic relations between Russia and the US Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov has arrived in Washington for talks with us Secretary of state Rex Tillerson (Rex Tillerson) and meetings in the oval office with President Donald trump.
Washington shocked that trump fired the FBI Director James Komi (James Comey) at a time when his office is investigating contacts between the electoral headquarters of the trump and the Kremlin during the elections of 2016. After trump last month ordered to launch a missile attack on Syria, the U.S. and Russian officials exchanged sharp remarks. Recently, the Kremlin said that Russian-American relations are experiencing “the worst period since the end of the cold war.”
But Lavrov’s visit to the White house — the first since 2013 is a sign that trump and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, who last week held a telephone conversation, intend to establish a more solid relationship, despite the serious constraints political nature.
“Symbolism, it seems, really significant,” said Samuel Charap (Samuel Charap), a former state Department official, now working in American strategic research center Rand. Under President Barack Obama after the annexation of the Crimea by Russia in March 2014 Lavrov to Washington was not invited.
“At least at the diplomatic level there is a certain stability in relations with Russia, the Obama administration tried to prevent”, — said Charap.
Lavrov made a stop in Washington on my way to Alaska, where they Tillerson will participate in the meeting of the international Arctic Council. Russian state news Agency TASS reported that they originally planned to meet one-on-one in Fairbanks, but at the last minute decided to hold a meeting in Washington.
It is unclear when it was decided to hold a meeting with trump, but for the President’s reception on a visit of the Russian Minister of foreign Affairs is a common practice. Tillerson met with Putin on 12 April, during his visit to the Kremlin. During a visit to the White house Lavrov was accompanied by Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, phone conversations with former national security adviser Michael Flynn (Michael Flynn) was the reason for Flynn’s resignation in February.
Lavrov’s visit takes place after last week’s phone conversation between trump and Putin during which the two leaders discussed Russia’s new plan to de-escalate the civil war in Syria through a ceasefire in the region.
The spokesman said that Tillerson and Lavrov will discuss both the Syrian and Ukrainian issues.
According to sources, in addition, they probably will discuss the possibility of the first meeting between trump and Putin, which, according to the Russian media, may occur during the July G20 summit in Hamburg (Germany) — although the White house about this possibility does not apply.
Last week in an interview with Russian television, Lavrov said that because there are high expectations that the meeting, trump and Putin will “achieve concrete results… it should be well prepared. And we’re working on it”.
Officials trump understand the awkwardness of the situation for the meeting with the first persons of the Russian state against the backdrop of allegations that in the course of the election campaign of 2016 assistants trump conspired with the Kremlin.
But former diplomats and experts in Russia believe that it is impossible to ignore nuclear power, which plays an active and often aggressive role in international Affairs.
“It’s a paradox relationship with one of the most important countries in the world. You can’t deal with her because of what she has, what cards are in her hands,” said Matthew Rojansky (Rojansky Matthew), an expert on Russia in the International scientific center named after Woodrow Wilson in Washington.
Yes, and Tillerson said this, speaking last week before officials of the state Department. “The two largest nuclear powers in the world can be such a relationship. We need to change them,” said Tillerson.
“If we can find some opportunities, we believe that we can begin to restore a level of trust, because today we almost have no confidence. If we can create some kind of trust?” — asked Tillerson rhetorical question. It is not clear to what extent trump still hopes to give the diplomatic impetus for this partnership with Putin, the establishment of which he repeatedly promised during the election campaign.
While Putin hopes that improved relations with the United States (based on joint action to counter terrorism) can lead to the lifting of Western sanctions against his country because of the aggression of Russia in Ukraine and increase Russia’s prestige in the international arena.
But trump will soon be faced with another pressure of and requirements to maintain a hard line against Russia. Later this month he went to Europe to meet with members of the “Big seven” and NATO is occupying in relation to Putin mainly tough position — especially because of the actions that Russia allegedly sought to influence the outcome of the presidential elections of the seventh of may in France. His intervention in the French or American elections the Kremlin denies.
“I think it’s important to engage in dialogue with Russia at a high level, says John finer (Jon Finer), the former head of the state Department, which was then headed by John Kerry. And I hope that among the important issues raised in conversations with foreign Minister Lavrov, should be deeply concerned about continuing Russian interference in our democratic processes and the democratic processes of other countries.”
