Russia dominated the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s grilling of Rex Tillerson, whose views on the country have been the subject of much speculation. As chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil, Tillerson had extensive business dealings with Russia. The senators used that experience at Tillerson’s confirmation hearing on Jan. 11 to press US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for the job of secretary of state on whether he would consider Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal (no), his views on continuing sanctions on Russia (unclear), and support for Ukraine (yes). Nevertheless, we still know very little about Tillerson’s worldview when it comes to the US strategy toward Russia.
While in his opening remarks Tillerson said that he would have supported a stronger response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, including providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, this assertion was in reference to the situation in 2014 when the US Congress unanimously voted to pass the Ukraine Freedom Support Act months after the annexation of Crimea. It is unclear whether Tillerson’s support for a stronger response would extend to the current Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine.
