1) US officials have said that they will start
tough
and frank dialogue with Russia. They have also said that as relations are at their lowest point since the cold war that from there they can only get better. Where could this dialogue lead and does Russia have any appetite for concessions before the upcoming presidential elections ...
On April 10, 2017, RIAC in Moscow hosted the discussion of joint RIAC–CSIS report “
Roadmap for U.S.-Russia relations
”, prepared by group of experts from the two countries.
A short summary of expert discussion:
— Had I been asked a week ago what my expectations for this visit were, I would have said that anything but a tangible success, could be ...
... with a symbolic suspension of the memorandum on the prevention of incidents, there is a serious military escalation and further erosion even of the minimal rules of the game. The consequences can be extremely dangerous for everyone.
Andrey Kortunov on Rex Tillerson Russia visit
Anything that is not an obvious failure can
be considered a success
The chemical incident in Idlib brought to nothing all the last months' efforts, aimed to normalize the situation in Syria and advance the dialogue between the government ...
... him so that his team, which is still being assembled, could take a look at these issues and determine what kind of attitude they would have on them. And we discussed Syria, Iran, the Korean Peninsula, the Middle East in general, relations between Russia and the West. It was a very general, but rather substantive discussion, obviously it was the first contact and Mr. Rex Tillerson is just getting into the shoes of his new capacity. We discussed the possibility of personal meeting and have been continuing these discussions. As soon as we finalize them it will be announced.</p>
<p>But my feeling is that ...