Relations between the United States and Russia have hit a low point and should be improved, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during a trip to Moscow Wednesday. Tillerson spoke after meeting with Vladimir Putin, a meeting that occurred only after much uncertainty as to whether the Russian president would receive the secretary of state.
Tillerson’s estimation comes after a week of sparring between the White House and the Kremlin over the chemical weapons attack carried out by the Bashar al-Assad regime. Russia, a top Assad backer, says that the Syrian leader is being unfairly accused of executing the attack. The Trump administration concluded that Assad was behind the act, and on Thursday ordered a cruise missile strike against a Syrian airbase as a “proportional response.”
“I expressed the view that the current state of U.S.-Russia relations is at a low point,” Tillerson said during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “There is a low level of trust between our two countries.”
Putin himself said earlier Wednesday that trust between the two countries had worsened since Donald Trump took office.
“We need to attempt to put an end to this steady degradation,” Tillerson said. “The world’s two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship.”
Disagreement over Assad’s role in the chemical attack remained an area of tension during the press conference.
Lavrov called for an “unbiased and frank investigation” of the attack by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). “We have said that there need to be a very thorough investigation into this incident, which has become the subject of many speculations,” Lavrov said.
Tillerson reiterated that Assad was behind the attack. On Tuesday, he blasted Russia for not living up to its 2013 commitment to eliminate Assad’s chemical weapons stockpile.
“It is unclear whether Russia failed to take this obligation seriously or Russia has been incompetent, but this distinction doesn’t much matter to the dead,” Tillerson said.
White House officials told reporters the same day that the Russian government has been spreading lies about Assad’s role in the attack, and pinning blame on anti-Assad groups.
Tillerson said Wednesday that he did not have “firm information” to indicate any Russian involvement in the attack. He previously suggested that Russia could be complicit.
The two did outline some areas of agreement Wednesday.
Lavrov said that Russia is open to resuming a military deconfliction channel with the United States related to Syrian airspace. Tillerson said that the two countries agreed to set up a working group to stabilize their relationship and solve smaller issues. Both also agreed on the need to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS). Still, the question of removing Assad from power remained a sticking point.
“Our view is that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end, and they have again, brought this on themselves,” Tillerson said. “Russia, as their closest ally in the conflict, perhaps has the best means of helping Assad recognize this reality.”
Lavrov, meanwhile, said that “the future of Syria has to be determined by the Syrians themselves,” echoing a statement Tillerson himself made only days before the chemical attack.
Tillerson’s stance changed after the attack on Idlib province, and he said Thursday the United States is part of an international coalition to remove Assad via a political process.
“Those steps are under way,” he said. “With the acts that [Assad] has taken, it would seem that there would be no role for him to govern the Syrian people.”
The secretary has repeatedly advised Russia to rethink its support for the Syrian leader. Lavrov, however, pointed to the downside of removing a foreign leader.
“This fixation on trying to oust this or that dictator, an authoritarian or totalitarian leader, is well known to us, and we know how it ends,” Lavrov said. “A successful ouster of a dictator is for me very hard to remember. If you have any examples I’d be glad if you could share them with me.”
