Tillerson: U.S. relations with Russia 'under considerable stress' after first six months of Trump administration
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that U.S. relations with Russia are under "considerable stress" following Russia's demand that Washington cut 755 U.S. diplomats and local staff from the U.S. Embassy and three consulates in Russia.
"Of course it make our life more difficult, more difficult," Tillerson said in a news briefing to mark his first six months in office.
The question, he said, is whether relations are "getting worse or can we maintain some level of stability... 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."
Tillerson said he expects President Trump to sign legislation that will impose new sanctions on Russia for its meddling in the 2016 election. The White House previo usly had said Trump would do so, but has not said when.
The secretary of state said he will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this weekend in Manila at the margins of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations conference.
It will be their first face-to-face meeting since Congress overwhelmingly passed the sanctions bill last week and Putin retaliated by ordering deep cuts at the U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia.
Tillerson also revealed that Trump told Lavrov when the two met in the Oval Office in May that "we need some good news" from Moscow. They met a day after the president had fired FBI Director James B. Comey over what Trump said later was the Russia investigation.
The diplomat seemed to try to soften Trump's threats on Twitter to use trade policies to punish China for what the White House considers its failure to persuade North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un give up nuclear weapons.
"We initiated a sustained and continued intensified campai gn for what I like to call peaceful pressure, because the options available to us, I think, as all of you well understand, are limited," Tillerson said.
He said the U.S. government would be open to dialogue with North Korea but only if it relinquishes its nuclear program. China has sought to initiate talks without those preconditions.
Tillerson also defended a broad reorganization of the State Department that he has undertaken. He rejected criticism that his failure to fill many positions has weakened the agency.
The State Department is "certainly not hollowed out," he said.
He also was critical of the 2015 international deal that blocked Iran from developing nuclear weapons because, he said, it failed to make Iran's government change its behavior beyond the "thin slice" of nuclear weapons.< /p>
Tehran received benefits "up front," including return of funds frozen in U.S. banks and the easing of nuclear-related sanctions, depriving Washington of more leverage, he said.
Washington still maintains economic sanctions on Tehran for its ballistic missile program, its support for terrorism and its human rights abuses.
Although international monitors say Iran remains in compliance with the nuclear accord, Trump came close to abandoning it last month and may still do so.
Tillerson said his relationship with Trump is very good despite reports of friction between the two. He said Trump often calls him late at night, on weekends, whenever "something comes into his head."
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