SECRETARY POMPEO: Sergey, thank you.
Good afternoon.
I want to first of all say that I appreciate President Putin
and Prime[Foreign] Minister Lavrov for hosting me today.
Thank you, sir.
We had a frank discussion about many issues, including many places where we disagree.
The United States stands ready to find common ground with Russia,
as long as the two of us can engage seriously on those issues.
We discussed, as Foreign Minister Lavrov said, many important topics.
We talked about terrorism.
We talked about Afghanistan.
President Trump has made clear that his expectation is that we will have an improved relationship
between our two countries.
This will benefit each of our peoples,
and I think that our talks here today were a good step in that direction.
A few subjects that we talked about.
Foreign Minister Lavrov mentioned that we spoke about Syria.
We both want to move forward on the political track to bring the suffering of the Syrian people
to an end, and we want to do so in a way that ensures that Syria will never again
be a haven for Islamist terrorist groups.
I also raised our concern about the escalation of the situation around Idlib in the northwest
of Syria.
We also discussed North Korea and its nuclear program.
The United States and Russia agree on the goal of the denuclearization,
and we’ll continue to discuss it.
I underscored that we must maintain full implementation of the UN sanctions
until the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea is achieved.
And our two teams have been working very closely together on this in a very productive fashion.
On Venezuela, we have disagreement.
I urged my Russian colleagues to support the Venezuelan people as they return democracy
to their country.
The United States and more than 50 other nations agree that the time has come for Nicolas Maduro
to go.
He has brought nothing but misery to the Venezuelan people, and we hope that the Russians’ support
for Maduro will end.
But despite our disagreements, we’ll keep talking.
I hope we can find a way forward that ends with the humanitarian and political crisis
that is happening.
On this we both agree.
We also discussed the situation in Ukraine.
The Trump administration has been clear that we do not recognize Russia’s attempted annexation
in Crimea, and we hope that we can continue to move forward.
Our sanctions have remained in place.
I urged Russia to reach out to Ukraine’s new president to demonstrate leadership by
taking a step towards breaking the stalemate.
We would, in particular, welcome the release of the Ukrainian crewmen
detained near the Kerch Strait last year,
and we talked about implementation and how we might move forward
in obtaining a ceasefire in the Donbas region.
We spoke a bit about the activities that are taking place in the Middle East today,
with particular focus on the actions that Iran is taking.
I made clear that the United States will continue to apply pressure to the regime in Tehran
until its leadership is prepared to return to the ranks of responsible nations
that do not threaten their neighbors or spread instability or terror.
As Foreign Minister Lavrov alluded to, very much on President Trump’s mind is arms control.
Our actions on the INF Treaty have demonstrated that we’re committed to effective arms control
that advances U.S. allied and partner security that is verifiable and enforceable.
The President has charged his national security team to think more broadly about arms control,
to include countries beyond our traditional U.S.-Russia framework and a broader range
of weapon systems.
The President wants serious arms control that delivers real security to the American people.
And we know – and I think we agree on this – to achieve these goals, we’ll have to work together,
and that it would be important that, if it’s possible, we get China involved as well.
We’ll have a more extensive set of conversations, both about arms control and a opportunity
to discuss all broad strategic security issues between our two countries in the weeks ahead.
I also raised the issue of U.S. citizens who have been detained in Russia,
making sure that our citizens are not unjustly held abroad.
It is one of President Trump’s highest priorities.
And we spoke, too, about the question of interference in our domestic affairs.
I conveyed that there are things that Russia can do to demonstrate that these types of activities
are a thing of the past and I hope that Russia will take advantage of those opportunities.
Finally, I wanted to emphasize the American friendship with the Russian people.
Our two nations share proud histories and respect for one another’s cultures.
We seek a better relationship with Russia and we urge that it work alongside us
to change the trajectory of the relationship,
which will benefit each of our peoples.
Thank you, Sergey.