By Kunle SHONUGA
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo believes that Washington should be“assertive but flexible” in its relations with Russia, and should try to identify spheres of common interest.
“There are many things about which we disagree. Our value sets are incredibly different, but there arealso pockets where we find overlap.
“That’s the challenge for a secretary of state—to identify those places where you can work together, whileprotecting America against the worst pieces of those governments’ activities,” Pompeo told the WallStreet Journal in an interview.
Pompeo also noted that for more than ten years, U.S. foreign policy has been focused on combating terrorismand, even more so, in the struggle for power.
In this regard, he called for particular attention to the emerging conflicts of the U.S. with Russia and China.
Pompeo said President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin mightmeet soon after the trip of U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton, who is expected to meet withRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday that he would confirm the meeting between Putin and Trump assoon as everything would be ready.
