Putin: Rex Tillerson ‘Seems to Have Fallen in With the Wrong Company’

Speaking at an economic forum in Vladivostok on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin illustrated the tensions between Russia and the United States with a joke at Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s expense.

“We awarded your compatriot Mr. Tillerson the Order of Friendship, but he seems to have fallen in with the wrong company and to be steering in the other direction,” said Putin. “I hope that the wind of cooperation, friendship and reciprocity will eventually put him on the right path.”

Reuters notes that Tillerson was CEO of Exxon Mobil in 2013 when he was awarded the Order of Friendship by Putin for his “significant contribution to strengthening cooperation in the energy sector.”

“Tillerson and Putin have a long, personal history,” the L.A. Times recalls. “Tillerson, a former Exxon Mobil chief executive, helped build the oil company’s presence in Russia in the 1990s. He first met with Putin in 1999, when the Kremlin leader was Russia’s prime minister. Later, as president, Putin presided over the signing of a massive deal between Exxon Mobil, then led by Tillerson, and the state-owned Rosneft to develop oil and gas reserves in the Arctic and Baltic seas.”

Two days earlier, at a news conference in China, Putin joked that President Trump “is not my bride, and I am not his groom” when asked if he thought Trump might be impeached.

He also ladled some sarcasm on the U.S. justice system after saying Russia intends to challenge the American seizure of several Russian diplomatic facilities in court. “We’ll see how efficient the much-praised American judiciary is,” said Putin.

At the end of July, after Tillerson said sanctions against Russia recently passed by Congress represented “the strong will of the American people to see Russia take steps to improve relations with the United States,” the Russian embassy in Washington mocked him on Twitter.

“The statement made by the State Department on July 29 regarding a new sanctions legislation approved by Congress cannot but raise eyebrows,” the embassy said.

“Washington still doesn’t get the fact that pressure never works against Russia, and bilateral relations can hardly be improved by sanctions,” it added.

Also in July, the U.S. Treasury Department fined Exxon $2 million for demonstrating “reckless disregard” for sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration in 2014, when Tillerson was CEO. The current State Department gave assurances that Tillerson was not involved in the decision to fine Exxon as Secretary of State for President Trump.