Pompeo warns Russia against ‘interfering in US domestic matters’

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told his Russian counterpart on Wednesday that Moscow would need to cease its interference in “U.S. domestic matters” if it hopes to thaw tensions with Washington. 

In a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — Pompeo’s first since he was sworn in as the nation’s top diplomat last month — the secretary of State said that the U.S. wants to improve relations with Moscow.

But he added that “achieving that will require Russia to demonstrate that it is prepared to take concrete actions to address our concerns, including interfering in U.S. domestic matters,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

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The phone call also touched on Russia’s involvement in Syria and Ukraine. The U.S. has repeatedly condemned Moscow’s intervention in eastern Ukraine, as well as its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. 

Pompeo’s discussion with Lavrov came a day after Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.), blasted Russia’s “outrageous actions” in Ukraine, and called for Moscow to return control of Crimea to Kiev.

“Until Russia ends its outrageous actions in Ukraine, the position of the United States will not waver. We condemn, in the strongest terms, Russia’s involvement in eastern Ukraine and its purported annexation of Crimea,” she said at a U.N. Security Council meeting.

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month, Pompeo affirmed the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia sought to sway the 2016 U.S. election in favor of President Trump. He denied that Russian interference had an impact on the result.