‘US will not allow Russia meddling in 2020 vote’
The US will not tolerate Russian meddling in the 2020 presidential elections, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told his Russian counterpart during talks yesterday in which both sides urged a thaw in relations.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on America to set aside its differences with the Kremlin in a bid to mend ties.
Mr Lavrov made the comments at a press conference before a day of discussions with Mr Pompeo, who is in Russia on this first official visit.
“We see that there are suspicions and prejudices,” Mr Lavrov told Mr Pompeo yesterday afternoon in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. “This hinders both your security and our security and causes concern around the world. We think it is time to build a new and more constructive matrix for our relations.
“We are ready to do that if our US colleagues are ready to reciprocate.”
Mr Pompeo arrived in Sochi a day later than planned. He made a last-minute detour to Brussels to lobby against Iran on Monday, forgoing talks with US embassy staff in Moscow.
Addressing Mr Lavrov in Sochi, Mr Pompeo said US President Donald Trump is committed to improving ties with Russia.
“We have differences and each country will protect its own interests, look out for its own interests of its people,” he said.
“But it’s not destined that we’re adversaries on all issues and I hope that we can find places where we have a set of overlapping interests and continue to build our strong relationships, at least on those particular issues.”
Moscow’s relationship with Washington deteriorated after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Western governments responded by imposing harsh economic sanctions on Russia, which they have redoubled after evidence surfaced that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential elections and the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK last year.
Ahead of the talks yesterday, Mr Pompeo struck a conciliatory tone in a tweet that said the meetings in Sochi would cover a range of topics. “On some issues we may agree on others we may disagree,” he wrote, “but when it’s in our national interests, it is our responsibility to find a way forward.”
That tone, however, was not matched by officials in Moscow. Before the talks, the Kremlin dismissed an earlier White House announcement that the US president and Mr Putin would meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit next month in Japan.
“We have noted the statement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, but made it clear there had been no talks about a meeting, let alone an agreement on one.
Mr Trump abruptly cancelled his last meeting with Mr Putin before last year’s G20 summit in Argentina, blaming a flareup of tensions in Ukraine.