Tillerson says he will act to prevent further Russian aggression in Ukraine

Rex Tillerson, the nominee for U.S. secretary of state, told the U.S. Senate on Jan. 11 that he will support measures against the Russian government that will deter and prevent further military expansion into Ukraine. “I’m advocating for responses that will deter and prevent further expansion of a bad actor’s behavior,” said during his confirmation hearings. When asked whether Russia had a legal claim to Crimea, Tillerson said, “No sir. That was a taking of territory that was not theirs.”

Tillerson also acknowledged Russia’s military invasion of Donbas as an “illegal action.” “I would have recommended that Ukraine take all of its military assets it had available, put them on that eastern border, provide those assets with defensive weapons that are necessary just to defend themselves, announce that the U.S. is going to provide them intelligence and that either NATO or the U.S. will provide air surveillance over the border to monitor any movements,” he said when asked what he would have done differently.

Tillerson acknowledged that he opposed the sanctions against Russia in 2014 because he thought they would be ineffective. He said he never personally lobbied against sanctions against Russia. He said he was not aware of ExxonMobil lobbying for a bill known as the Stand for Ukraine Act, as alleged by U.S. Senator Robert Menendez. U.S. senators alleged that as Exxon Mobil CEO, Tillerson spoke with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew regarding the sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in Ukraine, as well as having called a U.S. senator to express concern over the sanctions, which U.S. Senator Chris Murphy characterized as lobbying.

Tillerson was carefully to make statements that would antagonize Russian President Putin. When U.S. Senator Marco Rubio asked whether he considered Putin to be a war criminal for his military actions in Syria, Tillerson responded, “I would not use that term. Those are very, very serious charges to make.” Tillerson also said he would not support a new round of sanctions that is currently being prepared by a bipartisan team of senators, which Rubio said he found “troubling.”

Zenon Zawada: So far, so good. Unlike someone as radical as French nationalist Marine Le Pen, Tillerson upheld the key points of the global consensus on Russia in that it illegally annexed Crimea and intervened militarily in Donbas. He strayed from the consensus in opposing the sanctions, a position that was related to ExxonMobil’s business interests. Indeed it would have been foolish for the company’s CEO to take any other position and he seemed to have been rather restrained in the alleged lobbying efforts.

Calling Putin a “war criminal” ahead of an attempt to renew relations with the Russian government would have been foolish. So would have been endorsing a new round of sanctions. Tillerson also upheld Donald Trump’s position that he would act to prevent Russia’s further military aggression Ukraine. Of course, Russia would need some compromise on Crimea in order to withdraw its troops from Donbas, if that sort of an arrangement is possible at all.