WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Prior to the meeting, Lavrov said the two top diplomats would discuss a broad range of topics. Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he anticipated they would discuss bilateral relations and counterterrorism.
"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 could continue our dialogue and our exchange of views that began in Moscow," Tillerson said.
The top diplomats met for more than an hour at the State Department before heading to the White House for a meeting with Trump.
SYRIA, US SANCTIONS AND BILATERAL RELATIONS
A State Department readout of the conversation said Tillerson and Lavrov spoke about the war in Syria, specifically about defeating Daesh terror group (outlawed in Russia), the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians and a de-escalation of the violence.
Additionally, the State Department said "the United States and Russia agreed to continue discussions to resolve other issues of bilateral concern, including strategic stability."
At a press conference later, Lavrov confirmed he and Tillerson agreed to continue the conversation on bilateral relations begun earlier by their deputies.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon met on May 8 to discuss the complicated relations between the two nations.
"Far not all the issues have been resolved. I would even say that the movement forward is very modest, but we agreed that we will continue to use this channel," Lavrov stated.
The relationship, strained in recent years by the NATO buildup in Eastern Europe, the civil war in Syria and the situation in Ukraine, was made worse by allegations from the US intelligence community that Moscow sought to interfere in the 2016 US election to prevent former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from becoming president.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied the intention of swaying the US vote, and Lavrov on Wednesday characterized the accusations as embarrassing for the United States.
"It's humiliating for the American people to believe the Russian federation is controlling the domestic situation in the United States," he stated.
Moreover, Lavrov said the issue was not discussed with Tillerson nor during his meeting with Trump.
LAVROV MEETING WITH TRUMP
On Wednesday, Trump mentioned to Lavrov the possibility of the two nations collaborating in the future on resolving a number of conflicts in the Middle East.
During their meeting in the Oval Office, the president also underlined the importance of working together to end the war in Syria, according to a White House readout.
Later, Trump told the White House press pool that the meeting with Lavrov went well.
"We're talking about Syria and I think that we're going to do very well with respect to Syria and things are happening that are really, really, really positive," Trump told reporters.
The US president noted that both nations want to end "the killing — the horrible, horrible killing in Syria as soon as possible."
Trump also stressed his desire to build better relations with Russia, echoing comments he has made since the presidential campaign that both nations would benefit from cooperation.
Lavrov remarked that the dialogue between himself and Trump was "free from the ideology" typical in many of the discussions with the Obama administration.
The desires of both nations to improve relations and find areas of mutual interest for cooperation may be a topic of discussion between Trump and Putin when the two meet in July on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.
