MOSCOW, April 27./TASS/. The appointment of Michael Pompeo as US Secretary of State won’t have major influence on Russian-American relations, but it will be easier to mend them under Pompeo than it was under Rex Tillerson, the director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Foundation for United States Studies at Moscow State University said on Friday.

"The appointment of Pompeo won’t bring about serious changes in relations between the US and Russia," Yury Rogulev said. "However, if Trump decides to normalize relations with Russia and Pompeo supports him in this, it will be much easier for the current state secretary to do this than it was for his predecessor [Tillerson]," the expert added.

According to Rogulev, if the new secretary of state manages to make a good team with Trump, progress will be possible on the Russian-American track.

The expert said the former secretary of state has several Russian awards (in 2012, Tillerson was awarded the Order of Friendship ‘for a major contribution to the development and strengthening of cooperation with the Russian Federation’ - TASS), and "any friendly step towards Russia could be interpreted by his opponents as sell-out of the US interests". "Nobody can reproach Pompeo to this respect, that is why moves towards better relations with Russia will be much easier for him," Rogulev said.

"If Pompeo agrees to implement tasks and put into practice the ideas generated by Trump, then cooperation will be successful," he said. He reiterated that Tillerson had to quit his post due to differences on North Korea. "The former secretary of state was in favor of negotiations with the DPRK, while Trump insisted on a summit," he explained. "That is why, if the American president will seek to mend relations with Russia in the future, I don’t think the new secretary of state will stand in his way".

The US Senate on Thursday confirmed the former CIA director, Michael Pompeo, in the capacity of the US Secretary of State. Pompeo became the 70th Secretary of State. His predecessor at the post, Rex Tillerson, had to resign in March on the background of contradictions with President Donald Trump.