Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday told reporters in Russia during a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the current state of U.S.-Russia relations is at a "low point."
"There is a low level of trust between our two countries," Tillerson said, before emphasizing that "the world's two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship."
"Over the course of the past two years, a number of reciprocal actions have been taken to demonstrate the dissatisfaction each country has with the other," Tillerson said.
"We need to attempt to put an end to this steady degradation, which is doing nothing to restore the trust between our two countries, or to make progress on the issues of the greatest importance to both of us," he continued.
The press conference followed Lavrov and Tillerson's three-hour discussion, which came after Tillerson's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Tillerson's meeting was the first face-to-face between a Trump administration official and the controversial Russian president. Lavrov called the meeting "substantial and very frank."
Lavrov and Tillerson agreed during their meeting to establish a working group between their respective nations. The working group will aim to find common ground on smaller issues between Russia and the U.S., and stabilize the relationship between the two countries.
This would then allow Washington and Moscow to address more substantive international concerns. Tillerson noted that his conversation with Lavrov addressed issues such as the end of the Assad regime in Syria, the threat of nuclear weapons in North Korea, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.