--- title: Russia Refuses to Confirm Rex Tillerson's Plans to Visit description: Russia's Foreign Ministry declined to confirm reported plans of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to visit Moscow in April canonical: https://time.com/4707753/rex-tillerson-russia-moscow-visit/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-21T13:44:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:11.879Z article:section: Politics og:title: Russia Refuses to Confirm Rex Tillerson's Plans to Visit Moscow og:description: Tillerson plans to skip a NATO meeting to go on the trip to Russia og:url: https://time.com/4707753/rex-tillerson-russia-moscow-visit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dced5db67b2b8d7/6988bf2dcf40a8e5d5c46e73/rex-tillerson-russia-moscow-visit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: U.S. Secretary Of State Rex Tillerson In Beijing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russia Refuses to Confirm Rex Tillerson's Plans to Visit Moscow twitter:description: Tillerson plans to skip a NATO meeting to go on the trip to Russia twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dced5db67b2b8d7/6988bf2dcf40a8e5d5c46e73/rex-tillerson-russia-moscow-visit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Russia Refuses to Confirm Rex Tillerson's Plans to Visit Moscow > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Rex Tillerson Calls Russia a ‘Danger’ to the Nation [Watch (HLS stream): Rex Tillerson Calls Russia a ‘Danger’ to the Nation](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DP3hxBhw.m3u8) (0:52)  _Published 2017-01-11. He said recent Russian actions "disregarded American interests"_ by [Alessandra Prentice / Reuters](https://time.com/author/reuters/) ## Alessandra Prentice / Reuters Mar 21, 2017 1:44 PM UTC  U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson looks on during a joint press conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (not pictured) at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on March 18, 2017 in Beijing, China. Tillerson is on his first visit to Asia as Secretary of State. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson looks on during a joint press conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (not pictured) at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on March 18, 2017 in Beijing, China. Tillerson is on his first visit to Asia as Secretary of State. Lintao Zhang—Pool/Getty Images by [Alessandra Prentice / Reuters](https://time.com/author/reuters/) ## Alessandra Prentice / Reuters Mar 21, 2017 1:44 PM UTC (MOSCOW) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry declined on Tuesday to confirm or deny reported plans by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to visit Moscow, expressing its surprise at the “regular leak” of information from Washington. Sources told Reuters on Monday Tillerson planned to skip his first meeting of the 28 NATO allies in April in order to stay home for a visit by China’s president and then go to Russia. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to media requests for confirmation of Tillerson‘s Moscow visit that the ministry was “not prepared to confirm or deny this information”. “But we are certainly surprised by the regular leak of sensitive information from Washington,” she said in a post on Facebook. “It’s time for U.S. political elites to figure out if ‘Russian hackers’ have once again got into State Department servers or if the threat to U.S. cyber security has an American origin after all,” Zakharova said. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said later he was unaware of plans by Tillerson to visit Moscow. Skipping the NATO meeting and visiting Moscow could risk feeding a perception that Trump’s administration may be prioritising U.S. dealings with big powers over smaller nations that depend on Washington for security. Tillerson worked with Russia’s government for years in his former role as a top executive at Exxon Mobil Corp. 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