Washington, Apr 12 (EFE).- President Donald Trump said Wednesday that US-Russia relations “may be at an all-time low,” adding that only time will tell how his dialogue with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, unfolds.
Trump admitted at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that the bilateral relationship is not going well at all at present, adding that “We may be at an all-time low in terms of our relationship with Russia.”
“It would be a fantastic thing if we got along with Putin and if we got along with Russia. That could happen and it could maybe not happen or just the opposite,” Trump said.
He also said that he would like to get along well with all world leaders but went on to say that right now the international situation is a “disaster,” alluding to the assorted ongoing conflicts and terrorist threats.
When asked by reporters about Syria, Trump said that he would like to believe that Russia did not know in advance about last week’s sarin gas attack, which killed more than 80 people and which Washington has blamed on the Bashar al-Assad regime, but he added that it’s “possible” that Moscow did have advance knowledge.
After two days of fruitless talks at the United Nations, Trump made the unilateral decision to fire 59 cruise missiles at the Syrian airbase from where Washington believes the attack was launched.
The US decision has been harshly criticized by Russia, a situation that both parties have tried to tone down on Wednesday during a meeting between Putin and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
When Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to reporters following the Kremlin talks, Moscow’s top diplomat said that both countries supported an investigation into the chemical weapons attack.
Later, however, an aide to Tillerson contradicted Lavrov.
“No agreements were reached,” RC Hammond said.