Long. Please excuse me. I assured our colleagues at the allowed the hague were to investigate. We are going to insist on the truth. Thank you. About youro ask you conversations with president clinton about syria. D will predicted assa leave power through a peaceful transition. To do you convince assad participate in a transition that leads to his own ouster . How long will the u. S. Wait for russia to come around . Rov, your government and United States government seem to be miles apart you feel that you cleared up any of those issues you mentioned earlier today since youve had those discussions with secretary tillerson . Sec. Tillerson we did discuss at length the future role for assad, whether it be a future political process or not. Clearly come our view is the reign of the assad family is going to coming to an end. They brought this on themselves with the conduct of the war these past three years. We discussed our view that russia is their closest ally in the conflict, perhaps has the best means of helping assad recognize this reality. We think it is important that assads departure is done in an orderly way. Constituents he represents feel theyve been reprenteat the negotiating table for a political solution. How that occurs, we leave that to the process going forward. We do not think one has to occur before the other can begin. It will take a piece of its own. The final outcome in our view does not provide for a role for and the futurey governance of syria. Would not think the world will accept that. We do not think the world will accept that. That asssed the issue time goes by and more and more evidence continues to be gathered, it is possible that threshold necessary to charge assad may be achieved. This is a high legal hurdle to bring such charges against an individual. I would not suggest to you that all of that evidence is in place. The longer time goes by, it is possible that the case will be made and there are certain individuals who are working to make that case. I dont take the really as farre away as an unsurpassable distance. That refers to both syria and ukraine. In our opening remarks, we mentioned the agreement and the therd that exists on making channels of dialogue on syria said he is a and you are not to dig into history, but to deal with current affairs. Up by learningt from the past. We will not achieve anything if we dont take that historical background into account. Testrn countries need to will get rid of a dictator. The dictator of yugoslavia act and the u. N. Resolutions. They bombed a tb center, which is a violation of all geneva conventions tv center. The embassy of china was attacked. Trains, passenger almost three months, these bombings continued and only when finishedmmunitions come of theyd run out of andshed, theyd run out they moved on to the dual use ammunition, only then, they referred to the Security Council. Another example, Saddam Hussein was hanged. Why did it happen . Only tony blair confessed licly that it was fake everyone remembers what happened in iraq and everyone knows what is happening now. Gaddafi muammar statements were made that this dictator should not be in this country, that democracy should rule. We all know what is happening in isya, the statehood of libya under a big question mark. The president of the Russian Federation spoke to the president of italy about it. We want to move to stop the situation of this country being illegalnto a channel of migration as well as a slave trade. Your colleague from the media reported on this. By the way, recent examples ,gain, the president of sudan there was a search declared on him by the International Court of justice and in a few years time, the former president obama decided the country should be separated into two parts and we toe asked to give support the president so he does not go against the division of suda n. He participated in the official of division of sudan, according to the project. Tabled by the Obama Administration. Only last year my southern sudan was just only last year, southern sudan was offered to onlyctions imposed southern sudan was offered to have sanctions imposed. Examples of when a dictator would be overruled and everything would be absolutely perfect. There are no examples like this. If i am wrong, let me know. In syria, many times from president putin stated, we are not aiming at a personality. We are trying to come to some kind of reconciliation. The same as the u. N. Security resolution. Councilecurity resolution says, it is up to the syrians themselves to decide what ty want to. The most important thing is not to get rid of that political to deal with a Democratic State so the country can be secular. This is what the opposition from the highest committee of negotiations is demanding. All groups should be protected and represented in all levels of Governmental Authority and only then, some census will be achieved. Then, it will be without tragic consequences for the country, for the people and for the whole region at large. Secretary of state tillerson, have you discussed today the participation of russia in the elections of dust the u. S. Elections in the u. S. Elections and cyber terrorism . We know the u. S. Used a special virus and this virus was used korea. Iraq and north being made forng the president ial commission to be reinstated and to discuss this matter . We touched only briefly on the issue of cybersecurity and in particular on the challenges that it is placing on everyone in terms of the new threat and emerging threat. I do make a distinction, when cyber tools are used to interfere with the internal countries as to how their elections are conducted, that is one use of cyber tools. Cyber tools to disrupt weapons programs, thats another use of the tools. I make a distinction between those two. Clearly, this is an issue that has emerged in our time, for which we have yet as an International Community come to some conclusion about how we want to respond to that there will be further discussions and it is on the agenda come on the agenda that foreign minister lavrov passed to me to extend discussions in the future. F. M. Lavrov i can reiterate that we are interested in close cooperation in fighting cyber crime. You might have heard, 18 months ago, we suggested to the Obama Administration, taking into consideration their concern by the actions of the socalled Russian Hackers, that they tried worldture all over the come extra bite them to the u. S. Extradite them to the u. S. And try them in court and so on and so forth. Then, we said we are not so keen on our citizens being involved in cybercrime. We suggested we should have cooperation and establish a bilateral mechanism within the framework of appropriate , who is and ministries trying to violate International Norms of the u. S. And the Russian Federation. The Obama Administration refused this proposal. In fact, they did not really say anything at all. At the very end of the administration, somewhere in november, the colleagues from the ministries and agencies agreed with the Obama Administration was particularly busy arranging for the breakup of the relationship between russia and the u. S. Before the new administration would be elected. Indeed, it is very important, this cooperation. We felt that, at this point in time, the result the efforts i cannot remember the second question. Yes, the second president ial commission. Varied by was very president obama. The channels looking into , we arel issues planning to set up within some kind of umbrella organization, we are going to appoint people calmly and look at we arelt issues where upset with each other and see how we can avoid this feeling of being upset carpet eagerly paying attention to those problems upset, particularly thing attention to those problems. Did you discussed today sanctions or other concessions the United States might make in exchange for a change in behavior from the russian government . Speaking about what you just answered previously, did you present to president putin or the foreign minister specific evidence the russian government interfered in u. S. Election . If an independent investigation finds the Assad Government attacked his own people with chemical weapons, what will russia do . President putin says there is an effort to blame aside and plant evidence. Did you present that evidence to secretary to listen today . Secretary tillerson today . Sec. Tillerson we discussed no change in the status of sanctions that have been in place with russia as a result of certain actions taken in ukraine. As to the question of interference with theelection, that is fairly wellestablished. That has been spoken to on the hill as well with the congress and is a serious issue. It is one that we know is serious enough to attract additional sanctions. We are mindful of the seriousness of that particular interference in our elections. Im sure that russia is mindful of it as well. The secretary of state did not threaten with sanctions. In fact, we were not certain with anything at all. Frankly come we discussed all the issues on the agenda. Issues,rity of problematic ones should there be an investigation, this investigation will prove the syrian authorities were involved in chemical attacks. It is a hypothetical question. We do not want to guess. That those create hysteria. Claimsre demands and that the result of this is the bombing of the airport in syria. We dont want to speculate on very important issues, the use of chemical weapons, the attempt someone or say that he or she is to blame. Trutht to reinstate the and the basis of americanrussian laws and legislation, the presumption of innocence has to be respected. Official proposal, we are addressing to the hague, it should be a fair, unhindered investigation, should there be some bricks used in the we will make certain conclusions. Should there be some bricks used, we will make certain conclusions. Say not aled to single fact or even an inkling of a fact have been given to us that nobody has shown us anything, nobody has said anything to us. We asked to be given any proof convictions. Ged i know a cohort of people who want to destroy our relationship. Foreign ambitions we want proof. If we are given proof, then, we will give you an answer. Both secretary of state and the minister of Foreign Affairs risks in the far east, if there is a group, the Korean Peninsula, does america have any plans to wage an open military operation against the Korean Peninsula . Sec. Tillerson the province and strike group is routinely in the pacific ocean. It is in the pacific theater. Its movements in the pacific are made in a way that is planned by the military planners. Theres no particular objective. The vincent sales up and down the pacific routinely. Anything intoad its current location. Repeatvrov i can only that amongst other topics, we discussed the situation in the Korean Peninsula and around it. As far as i understood, though isre are new answers, there we will seek to find settlementeans to a in the area of the Korean Peninsula by means of negotiations. We have some ideas. Our chinese colleagues have some ideas. Around to get together this problem to find a solution. Mr. Secretary, before these meetings, you believed russia was either incompetent or complicit in these chemical weapons attacks. After your extensive meetings with Vladimir Putin and sergey lavrov, do you know which one that is and which concrete thing can be done to rebuild that lack of trust . If i can indulge you to answer in english, if you would Club President trump has called president assad and animal. Can you tell us how long russia will be willing to risk lives of its soldiers and send money to protect them . Sec. Tillerson with respect to russias complicity or knowledge of the chemical weapons attack, we have no Firm Information to indicate that there was any involvement by Russian Forces into this attack. What we do know and we have very firm and high confidence in our conclusions that the attack was planned and carried out by the Regime Forces at the direction of bashir alassad. I can reiterate, the same with the Russian Hackers and the chemical incident in syria, we would very , apart from oral statements, to have some proof must some factual proof. So far, we dont have any factual proof. , we work on the request of a legitimate government, a member of the u. N. , which is not under any sanctions of the Security Council of the u. N. We are there to fight terrorism. Allow interests, not to rule the board. If you look at what the Obama Administration and the collusion in fact, what theynot doing were originally created for. Fighting isis. Before the air force of the Russian Federation came there, they just bombed some positions movement hadhe always been spared. We still think they are being b is engaged plan to try to overrule bashir alassads regime by force. I already spoke of what the results have been in iraq and libya. I hope people will know the history well and learn from history and remember this. Those crimes committed in syria have to be looked into. The american colleague of mine said theres always a time for something and there are priorities. The priorities we heard from washington, that isis is a priority. Isise capable of defeating without touching the assad regime. John kerry said the same to me, saidbama administration isis and terrorism is a much bigger threat for us than the assad regime. On the samewe are footing. , if isisolutely clear could be fought against and if it can be fought over without butnge of the regime come if we get rid of the regime, we may also lose to isis. We must follow reason rather than emotions. This is the end of the press conference. Thank you very much. Pimm you can listening to a press conference between sergey lavrov, the foreign minister of russia and secretary Rex Tillerson. I want to bring in Kevin Cirilli to get your thoughts on this. They seem to be talking past each other for a great deal of the time. Offering a History Lesson of the middle east and russia u. S. Relations. That had not a lot to do with the visit of Rex Tillerson to moscow. Kevin a moscow version of a History Lesson. Heading into this, there were questions about whether or not foreign minister lavrov and secretary tillerson would be able to play nice. Rhetorically speaking, they denuclearizeer to north korea. On policy, there is a market difference. Marked difference. It difference that will reshape and mold President Trumps white house. The russians are saying theyre willing to work with syria while also calling for an investigation. Less than one week after a targeted missile strike coming from washington because of the use of chemical weapons repeated pimm secretary tillerson mentioned coring bombs does chlorine mentioned chlorine bombs and how the russians dont seem interested in dealing with this issue. Accord to avoid aircraft conflicts in syria, that has been reinstated. Maybe thats the one positive thing to come out of this. Ministerur foreign lavrov to say they are willing to continue to back syria, no way, no how much not going to happen. That is the message from washington. Secretary tillerson raised the possibility of war crimes being charged against the assad regime or even president assad himself. He said the reign of the assad family is coming to an end. I want to bring in shannon pettypiece. What did you make of what we just heard . Shannon i completely agree with you. Excellent points. It seemed like may be a friendlier tone in some ways. Given the tension going into this meeting and the strong rhetoric that has been said on both sides come of them were able to sit there diplomatically to agree on things and agree the relationship between the two countries has to be there, it has to work. It is either too much power between the two of them for us to have another standoff there were diplomatic tones. Perceptionis balance wise that they have to maintain where russia has to look strong in the face of the u. S. , prudent well, and putin as yet, we can have two countries going to war with each other. Trump looking like russias themt no, youve seen come out strongly against russia, technology and we cannot have world war iii over this. This was an interesting balance and dance going on. Abigail nick is our National Security reporter. Hes been covering Rex Tillersons trip to russia. What did you take away from this press conference . Shannon is right. Thing that really i saw one, just how much difference remains. On the Election Hacking come a russia says we have no concrete evidence. Historical discourse by lavrov saying tell me a time where and ousting of a dictator ended successfully. Was throwing jabs at tillerson. Sergey lavrov dominated the mic. Tillerson was answering much more directly, much more short answers. Sergey lavrov giving the longer discourse. Pimm one of the topics that came up during the News Conference was north korea. Is there any chance that the russians and americans will Work Together to defeat the Nuclear Situation in north korea . This is an says important point, the u. S. And russia agreeing to the denuclearization of north korea. Russia is not as big of a player on the north korean issue as the u. S. And china. That is where the agreement is going to have to hap