Yesterday, the US secretary of state Rex Tillerson concluded a very crucial meeting with Russia, which probably was the toughest of meetings in his career. The meeting came amid heightened tensions between the two global superpowers after the United States launched a unilateral missile attack on Syria in response to the alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government on April 7th. Most of the media reports suggest the welcome from the Russian side to Tillerson was frosty, which was not at all surprising given the current situation. While the US President Trump said that Russia is on the wrong side by siding with Assad, the Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the US-Russia relations have deteriorated under Trump. However, President Putin granted an audience to the US secretary of state after he held four hours of meeting with Sergei Lavrov. While most parts of the conversations were confidential and behind closed doors, we would try to present parts that were available to the public for clarity on the US-Russia relationship.

 In the previous article, we shared the comments made by the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and here would analyze the same from Secretary Rex Tillerson.

• In response to Mr. Lavrov comments, which are detailed here, http://www.econotimes.com/Global-Geo-political-Series-Tillerson-Russia-meeting--pre-meeting-conference-Sergei-Lavrov-642013 Mr. Tillerson said the following,
• He said that this meeting represents a continuation of dialogues which began earlier and says that they have talked by phone several times since, as both Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Lavrov agreed that the lines of communications shall always remain open. This meeting comes at an important moment in the relationship so that we can find common areas of interests even when the tactical approaches of the US may be different. He said the meeting would further clarify the sharp differences so that there can be a better understanding of why these differences exist and what could be the prospects of narrowing those differences. He stressed that he is looking forward to very open, candid, and frank discussion so that the US-Russia relations can be better defined from this point forward.  Finally, he thanks, Mr. Lavrov for hosting this meeting and said would discuss a wind ranging discussions on a number of important topics.

The meeting was surely an exceptional one if it defines the US-Russia relation standpoint. However, it is important to note that Secretary Tillerson believes that US-Russia better relations can work out even with different tactical approaches. In the next article, we would review the comments made by the duo, post-meeting.