CABINET/RUSSIA/STATE/TRUMP PEOPLE/REX TILLERSON: “Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson opened his first meetings in Moscow on Wednesday at a moment when relations between the United States and Russia are so tense that it was unclear whether President Vladimir V. Putin would even see the man he once gave a medal of friendship.
In the 24 hours before Mr. Tillerson landed, the White House accused Mr. Putin’s government of covering up evidence that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for sarin gas attacks on its own people, launched from a base where Russian troops are operating.
Mr. Putin shot back that the charge was fabricated and accused the administration of President Trump, who American intelligence agencies believe benefited from Russian cyberattacks intended to embarrass his Democratic rival during the election campaign, of fabricating the evidence to create a fake confrontation.
‘This reminds me very much of the events of 2003, when U.S. representatives in the Security Council showed alleged chemical weapons discovered in Iraq,’ Mr. Putin said, referring to an intelligence failure that Mr. Trump has also cited in recent months. ‘The exact same thing is happening now,’ he charged.”
-David E. Sanger, “As Tillerson Begins Russia Talks, Putin Leaves Him Guessing,” The New York Times online, April 12, 2017