Tillerson to visit Moscow as US, Russia face fresh tensions

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

A proxy battle with Russia in Syria and multiple Russia-related investigations in the U.S. will follow Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Moscow next week on a trip designed to test the Trump administration’s hopes for closer ties to the former Cold War foe.

Tillerson will make the first visit to Russia by a Trump administration official just days after the U.S. launched cruise missiles against an air base in Syria, where Russia’s military is on the ground propping up its ally, President Bashar Assad. Until Thursday, the U.S. had avoided striking Assad’s forces, largely out of concern about being pulled into a military conflict with Russia.

Tillerson, speaking just after the strikes were announced, said Russia had “failed in its responsibility” to deliver on a 2013 deal it helped broker to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal.

“So either Russia has been complicit, or Russia has been simply incompetent on its ability to deliver,” Tillerson said.

Growing disagreements about Syria are just the latest obstacle to any plans President Donald Trump had to closer align the U.S. and Russia on the world stage. Trump and his associates are embroiled in mushrooming investigations into potential collusion between his presidential campaign and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, accused by America’s spy agencies of interfering in the election to help elect Trump.

Despite Trump’s much-hyped campaign talk about a Russia reset, there’s no appetite for that from either political party in the U.S. Skepticism about Russia’s intentions was only compounded by its defense of Assad after a deadly chemical attack that the U.S. says was no doubt carried out by Assad’s forces.

Even minor concessions to Russia would trigger immediate accusations from Trump’s opponents that the president is beholden to Putin, a former KBG agent.