Trump to Meet Russian Foreign Minister a Day After Firing Comey

by Dramelin 10:00 PM 0 comments

President Donald Trump will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the White House on Wednesday, the day after firing the FBI director who had been leading an investigation into possible Trump campaign ties to Russian officials.
The morning meeting with Lavrov in the Oval Office is the prelude to Trump’s first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, expected within months.
Lavrov is in the nation’s capital to meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, with strife in Syria and Ukraine on the agenda.
Tillerson is expected to press Lavrov on the need for humanitarian assistance, a reduction of violence, and a political settlement of the Syrian civil war.
Tillerson also planned to press Russia to stop violence in eastern Ukraine and fully implement the Minsk agreement intended to bring an end to that country’s civil war.
On Tuesday, Trump dismissed FBI Director Jim Comey in the midst of a federal criminal investigation into possible collusion in last year’s presidential election between the Russian government, which the U.
has said sought to manipulate the outcome of the race, and people connected with the Trump campaign.
While candidate Trump indicated he would seek warmer relations with Russia, tensions have mounted amid growing evidence of Russian interference in U.
elections and Moscow’s support for Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.