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Donald Trump

Washington. – US President Donald Trump is seeking “mutually beneficial” and “pragmatic” relations with Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday after White House talks with the Republican leader.

Lavrov met with Trump and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson against the backdrop of the US leader’s firing of his FBI chief James Comey, who was leading a probe into Russia’s alleged meddling in 2016’s US election.

The uproar over Comey’s dismissal complicated Lavrov’s intended mission: securing US support for a Russian plan to create safe zones in war-wracked Syria.

But the veteran Russian diplomat said the two sides were seeking to “remove all the barriers” in their thorny relationship, and praised his meetings on Syria as “constructive”. “President Trump clearly confirmed his interest in building mutually beneficial, business-like pragmatic relations,” Lavrov told journalists.

“The goal of both President Trump and President [Vladimir] Putin is to have concrete results which will be tangible and which will allow [us] to alleviate problems, including on the international agenda.”

Lavrov’s visit to the Oval Office was a rare welcome for a foreign minister – or any non-head of state representing a foreign country.

The Russian foreign minister rejected claims that Moscow interfered in the election that sent Trump to the White House as “fabrications”. – AFP.