BELGRADE, December 13. /TASS/. ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who has been nominated as the new US Secretary of State, is a pragmatic person and this gives ground to expect that the Russian-US cooperation will develop, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"We are ready to work with any partners who are interested in developing relations with Russia on an equal basis," Lavrov said at a news conference. "I think both President Trump and the next Secretary of State are pragmatic people. We expect that this pragmatism will be a good foundation for building mutually beneficial cooperation from the viewpoint of the Russian-US cooperation and solving international issues," Lavrov stressed.

Earlier in the day, Trump nominated Tillerson, 64, as the new top US diplomat.

The Wall Street Journal wrote earlier that Tillerson "could leverage existing relationships with numerous world leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, with whom he has had dealings for more than a decade."