Lavrov's visit to the USA: how did the meetings with Pompeo and Trump go

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. After that, Lavrov met with US President Donald Trapp at the press-closed negotiations. Writes about this "Voice of America".

Фото: Depositphotos

The talks between Pompeo and Lavrov took place against the backdrop of tensions in bilateral relations caused by disagreements on a variety of issues - from Russian interference in the US election to armed conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

In addition, the parties have less and less time to conclude a new agreement designed to replace START-3, which expires in February 2021.

“Both I and the president said that if there is work that we can do together with Russia, we must do it for the American people,” said Pompeo. “I hope that Foreign Minister Lavrov and I can make progress.” In particular, the president asked us to work in the field of business relations. We will try to work on it. ”

Earlier, the White House confirmed that on Tuesday, December 10, a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Sergey Lavrov will also take place.

Following the talks, Pompeo and Lavrov held a joint press conference.

Opening it, Pompeo emphasized that work on improving US-Russian relations is ongoing. It is, in particular, about areas in which cooperation between the two countries is possible, first of all, about the fight against terrorism.

Sergey Lavrov noted that the negotiations were businesslike and frank. At the same time, he said that the situation when contradictions accumulate in relations between the two leading nuclear powers could not be called acceptable.

Lavrov called the alleged Russian interference in the US election. The Russian minister compared allegations of this interference and what Lavrov called suspicion of Russia to McCarthyism.

The head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) noted that the “wave of suspicions that has swept Washington” hinders the joint work of the two countries, writes RBC.

“Today we again emphasized that all speculations regarding interference in internal processes are unfounded. We did not see any facts that confirm this. Probably because they do not exist, ”Lavrov said and added that Russia was ready to make public diplomatic correspondence between Moscow and Washington from October 2016 to January 2017, even then, according to the minister, Russia notified the United States of threatening activities in electronic networks.

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Disagreements on this issue should not interfere with cooperation on other issues, negotiators decided. “We agreed that it is wrong to pause relations, to suspend or postpone cooperation on topical issues of our time,” said Lavrov.

He also noted that one of the topics of the talks was the issue of strategic stability and the extension of arms control treaties.

From the answers of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a press conference it follows that the American side is not yet ready to extend the START-3. Pompeo reiterated the need to extend the treaty to new types of weapons and involve China in the negotiations. Offering Beijing to join the strategic stability talks, Washington is not aiming to impose restrictions on the country's nuclear arsenal, Pompeo explained. The goal is to identify a series of principles that will ensure the security of the United States, Russia, and the whole world, he said.

Lavrov said that he had informed Pompeo about the negotiations on Ukraine that had just taken place in Paris.

In addition, he touched on the situation around the Iranian nuclear program. In connection with the situation in Venezuela, Lavrov announced the need for a peaceful solution to the problem, and also announced Russia's readiness to help resolve the problems around North Korea.

Lavrov noted that during the presidency of Trump, the volume of trade between the US and Russia increased and noted that the potential for the development of US-Russian relations is still great.

During the press conference, questions were asked about the North Korean problem.

The Russian minister urged the United States to return to dialogue with Pyongyang. In this regard, Mike Pompeo recalled the unequivocal position of President Trump, according to which Pyongyang should carry out denuclearization.

Sergei Lavrov was asked about the fate of the American businessman Paul Whelan, who was arrested in Moscow. Lavrov criticized the tactics of Whelan’s lawyers in response, suggesting that they may have attempted to create the image of a martyr.

Answering a question about alleged interference of Ukraine in the American elections, Lavrov said that this question has no relation to Russia.

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Touching upon the fate of the START-3 treaty and further work on arms control, Mike Pompeo noted the need to expand the circle of participants in the coups and, in particular, to include China in the negotiation process. He emphasized the need for a constructive approach to solving all existing problems in the field of strategic stability.

In this context, Pompeo returned to the question of the need to maintain strategic stability in US-Russian relations.

When asked about the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia, the Secretary of State emphasized the fairness of these sanctions. At the same time, he reiterated the readiness of the United States to build economic relations with Russia.

The minister’s visit to the United States is a response to Pompeo’s trip to Sochi this spring, so it’s more protocol in nature, said one of the members of the Russian delegation who went to Washington. However, this does not negate the fact that Russia is going to raise the whole list of problematic issues that exist in relations between the countries, he added.

After meeting with Pompeii, Lavrov held negotiations closed to the press with Trump. Their conversation lasted about 45-50 minutes. Lavrov waved a hand to the waiting journalists, but did not answer their questions, writes Gazeta.Ru.

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