| MOSCOW
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova attend a news conference in Moscow, Russia, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow was ready to talk to U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump's new administration about nuclear weapons and
Syria, saying the two countries could together solve many of the world's
problems.
Lavrov, speaking
days before Trump's inauguration, used an annual news conference to flag
potential areas of cooperation and to belittle what he described as malicious
attempts to link Trump to Russia in a negative light.
Trump, who has
praised President Vladimir Putin, has signaled he wants to improve strained
ties with Russia despite U.S. intelligence agencies alleging the Kremlin chief
ordered a cyber campaign to help him beat rival Hillary Clinton to the White
House.
Russia denies it
tried to sway the U.S. election by hacking or other means. It has also
dismissed as a fabrication a dossier written by a former officer in Britain's
Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, which suggested Moscow had collected
compromising information about Trump.
Lavrov dismissed
the dossier's author, Christopher Steele, as "a fugitive charlatan from
MI6" and said the dossier looked like part of a campaign to cause problems
for Trump and his allies. Putin on Tuesday called the same dossier a hoax.
While cautioning
that the new U.S. administration would need to settle in before wider
conclusions could be drawn, Lavrov signaled he was encouraged by the tenor of
the Trump team's statements so far which he said suggested it would be possible
to have a pragmatic relationship.
"Trump has
a particular set of views which differ a lot from his predecessor," said
Lavrov, who accused the Obama administration of wrecking cooperation across a
swath of areas and of trying to recruit Russian diplomats as agents.
"By
concentrating on a pragmatic search for mutual interests we can solve a lot of
problems."
He said Syria
was one of the most promising areas for cooperation, saying the Kremlin had
welcomed Trump's statement that he wanted to make fighting global terrorism a
priority.
"What we
hear from Donald Trump (on Syria) and his team speaks to how they have a
different approach (to Obama) and won't resort to double standards," said
Lavrov.
SYRIA AND NUKES
On Syria, Lavrov
said representatives from the new U.S. administration had been invited to take
part in peace talks slated for Jan. 23 in Kazakhstan.
He hoped U.S.
officials would attend, he said, as that would be the first opportunity for
Moscow and Washington to start talking about closer Syria cooperation.
Moscow backs
President Bashar al-Assad in the Syria conflict while Washington supports
rebels opposing him, but both have a common enemy in Islamic State militants.
Lavrov
questioned however whether Trump, in an interview he gave to The Times of London,
had really suggested he would be ready to drop U.S. sanctions on Moscow in
exchange for nuclear arms cuts saying his own reading of the interview had not
suggested any linkage between the two issues.
But
he said Moscow wanted to start talks with the United States on nuclear weapons
and on the balance of military power between the two former Cold War foes
anyway.
"It's
one of key themes between Russia and the United States. I am convinced we will
be able to restart a dialogue on strategic stability with Washington that was
destroyed along with everything else by the Obama administration."
Such
talks could cover hypersonic weapons, the U.S. anti-missile shield in Europe,
space weapons, and what he said was the U.S. refusal to ratify a ban on nuclear
testing. Trump has called for a nuclear weapons build-up.
Some
commentators have said Senate hearings for some of Trump's picks show they will
be tough on Russia. But Lavrov said he had been encouraged by Rex Tillerson,
the incoming Secretary of State, whom he cited as saying Moscow's behavior was
not unpredictable.
"(That)
means that we are dealing with people who won't get involved in moralizing, but
will try to understand their partner's interests," Lavrov said.
Tillerson
had extensive dealings with Russia when he was the head of Exxon Mobil (XOM.N)
oil company.
(Editing
by Angus MacSwan)
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