Tabnak – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was at a trip to Washington yesterday, in which he had a meeting with US President Donald Trump. The meeting, first between the current US president and a top Russian diplomat, attracted much attention as the future of US-Russia relations is still an important subject to discuss.
Trump met with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, at the White House. The Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak was also in the Oval Office for the meeting. Trump said the meeting with the top Russian diplomat was "very good.”
Lavrov told reporters in a press conference that Washington’s sanctions against Russia were not part of his talks with the US president. According to him, the meeting revolved around resolving the ongoing conflict in Syria and proposals for de-escalation zones in the country.
Lavrov’s trip to Washington, which was first announced by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week, come at a time when according to the state secretary US-Russia ties remain "at a low point.”
Lavrov’s trip was preceded by Trump’s surprise dismissal of FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing two important investigations that shaped Trump’s last year victory against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Lavrov joked about Comey's firing upon arrival, telling curious reporters: "Was he fired?... You're kidding, you're kidding!”
According to the Russian news sources, Lavrov brought to Washington a message from President Vladimir Putin for his American counterpart, the Kremlin spokesman told reporters on May 11 without elaborating.
"Certainly," Dmitry Peskov said in reply to the query about a message. The spokesman said "contacts of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were maintained further to a recent telephone conversation between the two presidents."
He declined to answer the question from journalists who asked whether reports of POLITICO that Trump received Lavrov after Putin’s personal request in the telephone conversation were true. "As I have already said, the contacts were maintained further to a conversation of the two presidents," he marked.
It should be noted that while as a candidate, Trump indicated he would seek warmer relations with Russia, tensions have mounted amid the claims of Russian interference in elections in the US and Europe and Moscow's support for Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria.
However, the White House statement about Wednesday's meeting noted Trump’s desire to build a stronger bilateral relationship with Moscow on a wide variety of topics.
"The president raised Ukraine, and expressed his administration’s commitment to remain engaged in resolving the conflict and stressed Russia’s responsibility to fully implement the Minsk agreements. He also raised the possibility of broader cooperation on resolving conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere,” according to the text.
Furthermore, Russian state media announced Thursday that US President Donald Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in July as part of the G20 summit in Hamburg,
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the announcement after meeting with Trump in Washington Wednesday, according to TASS news agency. It would be the two men's first meeting since Trump took power in January. The White House has yet to confirm.
