Trump Wants Mutually Respectful Relations with Moscow, Says Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday that US President Donald Trump has advocated for “respectful” relations with Moscow, which would be based on properly realized common interests, such as the fight against terrorism.

MOSCOW – US President Donald Trump was always saying that he wants to have mutually respectful relations with Russia that would be based on shared interests, said Sunday.

 “President Trump never – neither during the election campaign, nor after he has become the acting president – said that he wanted to have bad relations with Russia. Conversely, he said that he wanted to have normal respectful relations with all countries, including Russia, [relations] that would be based on properly realized common interests…. [Among] such common interests, of course, there is primarily the fight against terrorism,” Lavrov said on the air of the Voskresnoye Vremya TV program.

“In fact, the coherence of [words of] President Trump, in my opinion, was never broken,” Lavrov added.

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held meetings with Tillerson and with US President Donald Trump. The politicians discussed a number of issues, including the one related to the seizure of diplomatic compounds.

US-Russian relations worsened since 2014 against the background of Ukrainian crisis and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. The United States and its allies in Europe imposed rounds of sanctions against Russia, blaming Moscow for interfering with Ukraine’s inner affairs. In addition, Washington accused Kremlin of meddling in the 2016 presidential election in the United States, which resulted in the victory of republican candidate Trump.

Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations calling them absurd and warning that the Western sanctions are counterproductive and undermine global stability.

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