Russia: Mr. Tillerson bringing 'ultimatum' to Moscow is 'useless'

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria V. Zakharova said Mr. Tillerson coming to Moscow with an “ultimatum” on Syria was “useless” and questioned the US’s goals in Syria and North Korea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) shakes hands with Rex W. Tillerson in 2012, when he was the CEO of oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil.

US Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson just had a 2-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the two men disagreed on many issues related to the chemical attack in Syria and accusations of Russian interference in the US election.

Mr. Tillerson held a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey V. Lavrov after the first meeting between Russian leaders and a top envoy in the administration of US President Donald Trump.

“The two most powerful nuclear powers in the world cannot have this relationship,” Mr. Tillerson told reporters.

Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Lavrov said that the notable issues discussed during the talks were the crises in Syria, North Korea and Ukraine and both sides agreed to set up a working group to help resolve difficulties in the US-Russia relationship.

Mr. Tillerson reiterated the U.S. position that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria on April 4 that killed more than 80 people. Meanwhile, Mr. Lavrov reiterated Russia’s position that many details of the attack were still unclear and denounced what Mr. Tillerson described as “media frenzy” surrounding the attack.

Furthermore, Russia also vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the chemical weapons attack in Syria on April 12. This is the eighth time in the six-year conflict in Syria that one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council has used its veto power to protect the Syrian government.

Mr Tillerson also said that Russian interference in the US election was a fact. In response, Mr Lavrov gave a long list of US attempts at “regime change” around the world, from Serbia to Iraq to Libya. He described these efforts as failures and warned against any similar attempts in Syria.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria V. Zakharova said it was “useless” for Mr. Tillerson to come to Moscow with an “ultimatum.” She also said that if Mr. Tillerson wanted to make progress in U.S.-Russian diplomatic relations, he would have to start by getting Mr. Trump and his administration on the same page about strategy in Syria.

“It is unclear what they will do in Syria and in other places like North Korea. No one understands what they will do in the Middle East because this is a very complicated region,” Ms. Zakharova told Russia’s Dozhd television.

Weeks before his visit to Russia, Mr. Tillerson hoped the fight against the Islamic State would be the focus of the trip. Instead, the chemical attack in Syria and Russia’s interference in the U.S. election have overshadowed what Mr. Tillerson had stressed as his No. 1 priority.

Mr. Putin has awarded Mr. Tillerson, former CEO of the oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, the Russian Order of Friendship. However, many analysts believe that this trip as US Secretary of State of Mr. Tillerson will encounter many difficulties and is unlikely to achieve the expected results.

According to Tien Phong