Kremlin says feels 'cautious optimism' after Trump meeting with Lavrov
Moscow: The Kremlin feels cautious optimism about the prospects for an improvement in US-Russian relations after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met US President Donald Trump in Washington, a Kremlin spokesman said on Thursday.
“The conversation itself is extremely positive,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call with reporters, referring to Lavrov’s meeting with Trump on Wednesday.
Peskov said the Kremlin viewed the prospects of a thaw “with cautious optimism.” “We have a lot of work ahead of us,” he said.
The meeting received close attention, coming as it did the day after the president fired FBI director James Comey, who was overseeing an investigation into Trump campaign aides’ contacts with the Russians, specially ambassador Kislyak.
American media were denied access — the limited access White House pool reporters and photojournalists get to the start or ending minutes of such meetings — and the first pictures of Trump with Lavrov and Kislyak were released by the Russian foreign ministry.
Trump later told the White House pool of reporters on Wednesday he had a “very, very good meeting” with Lavrov. He said both sides want to end “the killing - the horrible, horrible killing in Syria as soon as possible and everybody is working toward that end”.
