Russian/US Foreign Ministers to Meet in Washington

On Monday, a brief State Department statement said “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will meet with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Washington DC on Wednesday, May 10, to discuss Ukraine, Syria, and bilateral issues.”

“On Ukraine, the sides will discuss the need to stop the violence in eastern Ukraine and resolve the conflict through the full implementation of the Minsk agreements.”

“On Syria, the Secretary intends to discuss efforts to de-escalate violence, provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, and set the stage for a political settlement of the conflict.”

On May 8, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon is meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov in New York for similar discussions.

Ahead of his Washington visit, Sergey Lavrov blasted illegitimate US-installed putschists running Ukraine, accusing them of flagrantly violating Minsk agreement terms, saying:

“We are highly concerned of the status of Minsk agreements implementation, primarily as a result of sabotage of Ukrainian authorities. Examples of that are numerous.”

“This pertains to complete sabotaging of the political process and arranging armed provocations on the contact line on the regular basis, to have a reason not to perform the political component of the package of measures approved in Minsk.”

“Plenty of facts exist in this regard, particularly in reports of the OSCE special monitoring mission” – showing Kiev is a serial aggressor, refusing to observe Minsk terms it agreed to.

Daily unprovoked shelling by its military continues. Russian media published a letter by Kiev resident Polina Orlovskaya, saying on May 9, Russia’s Victory Day over Nazi Germany, Ukrainian fascists threatened to “kill and burn the remnants of cotton wool. Banderites will burn us like in Odessa” in May 2014, killing hundreds, not dozens as falsely reported.

“People like me are called in Kiev ‘dumb cotton wool,’ which does not understand the current historical moment,” Orlovskaya added.

Nazi-infested Ukraine is capable of anything, operating ruthlessly – with full support and encouragement from Washington.

Endless conflict in Syria continues because neocon US officials oppose resolving things diplomatically.

Tillerson’s meeting with Lavrov in Moscow accomplished nothing. Both countries remain world’s apart on geopolitical issues.

Talks in Washington aren’t likely to fare better. Adversarial relations remain unchanged. Trump’s promise to improve things was hollow rhetoric, bilateral ties as dismal as any time during the Cold War.

Putin and Trump will likely meet for the first time in Hamburg, Germany during the July 7 and 8 G20 summit.

Given the deplorable state of bilateral relations, it’s highly unlikely anything significant will be achieved.