Putin calls Mueller inquiry ‘very objective’
Pompeo, Russians talk over global sore spots
WASHINGTON – Russian President Vladimir Putin called Robert Mueller’s investigation “very objective” Tuesday and said he hoped the special counsel’s final report would allow the United States and Russia to reboot their diplomatic relationship.
“However exotic the work of special counsel Mueller was, I have to say that on the whole, he has had a very objective investigation, and he confirmed that there were no traces whatsoever of collusion between Russia and the incumbent administration, which we said was absolutely fake,” Putin said before a closed-door meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Sochi on Tuesday.
Putin said he believes President Donald Trump “intends to rebuild U.S.Russian relations,” and he hopes “right now the conducive environment is being built for that.”
Pompeo pressed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an earlier private meeting Tuesday to prove Russian meddling in U.S. elections had stopped.
Pompeo said Trump shares the desire to “change the trajectory” of America’s fraught relationship with Russia, but it could further deteriorate if Putin’s government continues its efforts to undermine American democracy.
Pompeo and Lavrov met in Sochi, a Russian beach resort on the Black Sea, for a wide-ranging discussion that touched on tensions over Iran, Venezuela and nuclear arms control. Pompeo met with Putin for additional talks on those thorny issues.
Lavrov said Russian officials hoped the release of the special counsel’s report would close an acrimonious chapter in U.S.-Russian relations.
“We hope this tumultuous situation will die down, and we can finally move on to building more professional, constructive dialogue between Russia and the U.S.,” the Russian diplomat said.
Pompeo said if the Kremlin interferes in the 2020 election, “it would put our relationship in an even worse place than it’s been.”
The two men said they had a “frank” discussion about a range of other geopolitical flashpoints:
❚ Kremlin officials have expressed frustration with the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric about the threat Iran poses – and a possible U.S. military response. The Trump administration has made isolating Iran economically and politically the cornerstone of its foreign policy.
Pompeo warned that Iran or its proxies in the region planned attacks on U.S. interests in the region, and the Pentagon dispatched an aircraft carrier and
B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf to counter the alleged threats.
Pompeo said the United States wants Iran to stop funding terrorist groups and to “behave like a normal country.”
Lavrov said he told Pompeo he hopes they can find a “political solution” to the Iran situation, so it does not “tip over to the military scenario.”
❚ In the power struggle between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, Russia supports Maduro, a socialist leader who helped steer the country into a severe economic crisis.
The Trump administration backs Guaido, who has made several unsuccessful attempts to oust Maduro from power. The United States has imposed a series of severe sanctions on Venezuela.
After Guaido called for an uprising this month, Pompeo said Maduro was about to flee the country but was convinced to stay by the Kremlin. Maduro and Russian officials denied that account.
Pompeo said Tuesday that the United States wants “every country that’s interfering in Venezuela to cease doing that.” Lavrov shot back by suggesting U.S. meddling in Venezuela’s internal affairs. “Democracy cannot be done by force,” he said.
❚ Perhaps the most consequential item on the agenda was a U.S.-Russian arms control treaty called New START.
Trump administration officials are pushing to broaden the pact to include China, aiming to craft a deal that limits China’s warheads and other weapons.
“The president has charged his national security team to think more broadly about arms control to include countries beyond our traditional U.S.Russia framework and a broader range of weapons systems,” Pompeo said.
Chinese officials said they have no interest in such a deal. “China does not see any necessity and does not intend to join bilateral talks between Russia and the U.S. on nuclear disarmament,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday during his own meeting with Russian officials in Sochi.