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Lavrov meets Trump, Tillerson amid furor over FBI chief firing

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Press Trust of India Washington
Last Updated : May 10 2017 | 10:48 PM IST
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today held talks with President Donald Trump and his American counterpart Rex Tillerson on a host of issues, amid a raging political storm here over the abrupt sacking of the FBI chief who was probing Russia's meddling in the US polls.
Trump welcomed Lavrov to the White House marking his highest level face-to-face contact with a Russian government official since taking office.
The two leaders held discussions at the Oval Office on a host of issues and the US president described his meeting with Lavrov as "very, very good".
Trump asked Russia to rein in the authoritarian Assad regime of Syria, Iran and Iranian proxies.
His brief remarks came during his meeting with former US Secretary of State and top diplomat Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office of the White House.
Earlier, Lavrov and Tillerson held talks on issues like Syria and Ukraine at the State Department.

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"I want to welcome Foreign Minister Lavrov to the State Department and express my appreciation for him making the trip to Washington so that we can continue our dialogue and our exchange of views that began in Moscow with the dialogue he hosted on a very broad range of topics," Tillerson said.
The meeting came following the surprise sacking of FBI Director James Comey by Trump yesterday.
Peppered with questions on Comey's firing during his brief media interaction at the State Department, Lavrov joked around.
"Does the Comey firing cast a shadow of your talks, gentlemen?" a reported asked.
"Was he fired?" Lavrov questioned.
"Yes", the reporter responded.
"You are kidding. You are kidding," replied Lavrov.
Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak was also present in the meeting with Lavrov.
About Comey's sacking, Trump said the FBI chief "was not doing a good job".
Lavrov said Trump was seeking "mutually beneficial" and "pragmatic" relations with Russia.
"President Trump clearly confirmed his interest in building mutually beneficial, business-like pragmatic relations," he said.
He dismissed reports of Russia's alleged meddling in the US domestic politics as "fabrications."
"As for the talk and noise raised around our relations, around fabrications saying that we are in charge of the domestic politics (of the US), of course we have observed this absolutely abnormal background on which our relations are developing," Lavrov said.
He said "there is not a single fact" or piece of clinching evidence proving Russia's intervention in the US election.
Speaking at the Russian Embassy in Washington after meeting with Trump and Tillerson, Lavrov said it was "humiliating" for the American people to hear that Russia was controlling the US' politics.
He highlighted that Trump had dismissed the controversy as "false news."
Later, giving details of the Trump-Lavrov meeting, the White House said, "President Trump emphasised the need to work together to end the conflict in Syria, in particular, underscoring the need for Russia to rein in the Assad regime, Iran, and Iranian proxies".
During the meeting, Trump also raised Ukraine, and expressed his administration's commitment to remain engaged in resolving the conflict and stressed Russia's responsibility to fully implement the Minsk agreements.
"He also raised the possibility of broader cooperation on resolving conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. The President further emphasised his desire to build a better relationship between the United States and Russia," the White House said.
Lavrov also told reporters that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to meet on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in July.
The meetings with the Russian Foreign minister came in the wake of the surprise sacking of Comey who was overseeing a probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 US presidential polls.
An angry opposition has called for appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate into the alleged Russian influence in last year's general elections.
On the Senate floor, Senate majority leader Senator Mitch McConnell ruled out any such appointment.
"Today we'll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation, which could only serve to impede the current work being done to not only discover what the Russians may have done - also to let this body and the national security community develop countermeasures and warfighting doctrine to see that it doesn't occur again," McConnell said.
Senate Minority Leader Senator Charles Schumer also continued with his demand of appointing a special prosecutor.

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First Published: May 10 2017 | 10:48 PM IST

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