[ applause ] well, good morning, everybody. Welcome. Were delighted to have you here. Im going to start with a little safety announcement. I learned this lesson from Rex Tillerson when he was ceo at exxonmobil. Every Public Meeting begins with an announcement with how well take care of you if anything comes up. The exits are behind us. The stairs closest that will take us down is behind this door, go down to the first level. Were going to take two left hand turns meet across the street at National Geographic and there will be ice cream for you when you get there. So everything will be fine, no worries. Let me first say welcome to richard spencer, secretary of the navy. Were glad you could join us today. Thank you for your service, richard. It was about a year ago i was having breakfast with then Rex Tillerson. Hes no longer Rex Tillerson for me, hes secretary tillerson. He had announced he was going to be retiring, and we were talking about how we would continue relations with him and
Here. Im going to start with a little safety announcement. I learned this lesson from Rex Tillerson when he was ceo at exxonmobil. Every Public Meeting begins with an announcement with how well take care of you if anything comes up. The exits are behind us. The stairs closest that will take us down is behind this door, go down to the first level. Were going to take two left hand turns meet across the street at National Geographic and there will be ice cream for you when you get there. So everything will be fine, no worries. Let me first say welcome to richard spencer, secretary of the navy. Were glad you could join us today. Thank you for your service, richard. It was about a year ago i was having breakfast with then Rex Tillerson. Hes no longer Rex Tillerson for me, hes secretary tillerson. He had announced he was going to be retiring, and we were talking about how we would continue relations with him and all that. I said rex, what are you going to do when you retire . He said im goin
I am ready to answer your questions. Thank you. [applause] you will be given a chance to ask three questions. I will give an opportunity first of all, to our foreign friends. You have sent a very experienced ambassador now, to washington. He has experience in negotiating strategic arms control with the United States. I am wondering what you have proposed to him, to restart the arms control dialogue with the United States. As you yourself mentioned, we have a big breakdown in this vital working relationship between the two nuclear superpowers. Mr lavrov we have had problems in our dialogue with the u. S. In recent months in recent years. During the Previous Administration there were many things that were failing. This is a different conversation. But after the Trump Administration came to the white house, we have stated our readiness to renew dialogue on all directions. We understand clearly, the situation that the new administration is in, how much pressure it is in at the moment, the