Trump instructs Tillerson to make contact with Russia soon
US President Donald Trump stated on Thursday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will continue to engage with the Russian leadership.
“If we could get along with Russia, that’s a positive thing. We have a very talented man, Rex Tillerson, who’s going to be meeting with them shortly,” he said at a press conference in Washington.
“And I told him, I said ‘I know politically it’s probably not good for me.’ The greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship that’s 30 miles off shore right out of the water. Everyone in this country’s going to say ‘oh, it’s so great’. That’s not great. I would love to be able to get along with Russia,” Trump added.
Earlier on Thursday, with reference to a source in the US government, Fox News reported that the Russian reconnaissance ship “Viktor Leonov” came within about 75 miles of an American naval base in Norfolk, but remained in international waters. Earlier this week the ship came close to an American submarine base in Connecticut.