Time for Russia and USA to put aside years of mistrust – Sergei Lavrov to Mike Pompeo
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday it was time for Moscow and Washington to put aside years of mistrust and find a way to work together constructively.
“I am here today because President Trump is committed to improving this relationship,” Pompeo said in brief remarks before his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the resort town of Sochi. That meeting lasted approximately an hour and a half, according to the State Department.
“We have differences and each country will protect its interests, look out for its own people. But we are not adversaries on every issue and I hope that we can find places where we have a set of overlapping interests and can truly begin to build out strong relationships, at least on those particular issues,” the US secretary of state said Tuesday.
Ties between the two countries have been poisoned by allegations – denied by Moscow – that Russia tried to influence the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and by differences over Venezuela, Iran, Syria and Ukraine.
“We see that there are suspicions and prejudices,” Lavrov told Pompeo at the start of their talks.
