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Tillerson at G-20 in Germany on first trip at State Dept.

He’ll have first meeting with Russia foreign minister

By Carol Morello, The Washington Post
Published: February 15, 2017, 6:20pm

BONN, Germany — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Germany on Wednesday on his maiden overseas trip as the top diplomat in an administration whose foreign policy overtures are mostly being conducted from the White House.

Tillerson’s participation at the meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major world economies is in some aspects his introductory foray into the world of diplomacy and its practitioners. As chief executive of ExxonMobil, Tillerson negotiated oil deals around the world, but he had never dipped into foreign policy before becoming secretary of state two weeks ago.

He will be in “listening mode” during multilateral meetings on the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, said a senior State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under protocol for briefing reporters on the trip.

And it will be Tillerson’s first face-to-face meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a time when relations between Washington and Moscow are fraught with tension, uncertainty and scandal. Russia plays a key role in the Syrian war, it is suspected of trying to meddle in the U.S. presidential election, and there is concern over its recent deployment of a cruise missile in violation of a key arms-control treaty.

President Donald Trump has said he wants to get along better with Russia, but the White House says Trump expects Moscow to “return” Crimea to Ukraine after annexing it in 2014. But Lavrov’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said Wednesday that Moscow will not even discuss the subject.

But lifting sanctions imposed over Ukraine and Crimea is apparently off the table for the time being. The State Department official said Tillerson will raise with Lavrov overlapping interests such as fighting the Islamic State and terrorist groups, but will insist that Russia stop supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine and live up to other commitments it made in the Minsk agreements.

“The president himself has said that it’s too early to talk about lifting sanctions,” the official said when asked whether Tillerson would signal a softer approach to Russia on Ukraine.

Amid concerns among European allies over how rigorously the Trump administration will uphold traditional U.S. commitments, Tillerson also will meet separately with the foreign ministers of Italy and Britain, as well as those of Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

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