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"At this time ...
I do not see any indication that Mr. Putin would want a positive
relationship with us. That is not to say we can't get there as
we look for common ground," Mattis told a House Armed Services
Committee hearing, referring to Russian President Vladimir
Putin.
"But at this point, he has chosen to be competitive, a strategic
competitor with us and we will have to deal with that as we see
it," he said.
Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff,
added that the United States had an adversarial relationship
with Russia.
Russia and the United States have a number of diverging
interests, including in Syria.
Russia said on Saturday it had told the United States it was
unacceptable for Washington to strike pro-government forces in
Syria after the U.S. military carried out air strikes on
pro-Syrian government militia.
U.S. senators said on Monday they were close to an agreement on
legislation imposing new sanctions on Russia, including a
possible provision that would prevent the White House from
easing sanctions without congressional approval.
Democrats and Republicans on the Foreign Relations and Banking
Committees have been negotiating for about a week on an
amendment to an Iran sanctions bill that also would impose
sanctions to punish Russia over issues including its alleged
meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, annexation of Ukraine's
Crimea region and support for the government of Syria in that
country's six-year-long civil war.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Mike Stone; Editing by Peter Cooney
and Bill Trott)
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