Moscow, Russia. The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had to know going to the Kremlin was going to be a bumpy ride. The world holds its breath as now both leaders of the two major nuclear superpowers, each in posesion of 6000 plus nuclear missiles, both agree relations have never been worse. A sobering thought, given both sides nearly exchanged nuclear weapons in 1962.
The relationship between the United States and Russia appear to have reached depths not seen since the end of the Cold War. The country’s top two diplomats have admitted that there is little trust between them.
Minutes after the US Secretary of State and Russia’s Foreign Minister ended a news conference in Moscow, Russia vetoed the latest UN resolution condemning the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria.
US President Donald Trump described the relationship between the two countries as at an “all-time low.” Hours earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the “level of trust” had “not improved but has rather deteriorated.”
During a hostile visit to Moscow, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also said US-Russia ties had reached a “low point” – despite a lengthy meeting with Mr Putin and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
Foreign Minister Lavrov denounced America’s missile strikes on a Syrian airbase, launched in the aftermath of the attack, as illegal -and accused Washington of behaving unpredictably.
President Trump’s pre-election campaign platform had called for closer ties with Russia but President Putin is not buying in to what the west is selling, with its attacks on Syria.
Minister Lavrov admitted relations between the two nations “are not the most calm” and some issues were “time bombs” inherited from the Obama administration.
But he said Moscow and Washington had agreed to continue co-operating to try to find a political solution for Syria.
The Russian diplomat claimed some progress was made on the crisis in the war-ravaged country and a working group would be set up to examine the poor state of US-Russia relations.
“The world’s two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this type of relationship,” Mr Tillerson warned.