WASHINGTON, January 11. /TASS/. Washington needs an "open and frank dialogue" with Moscow, Rex Tillerson, US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the State Department, said testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Tillerson’s remarks were released after his confirmation hearing began.

The former Exxon Mobil CEO also said that the US must "be clear-eyed about our relationship with Russia." "Russia today poses a danger, but it is not unpredictable in advancing its own interests," he added. "We need an open and frank dialogue with Russia regarding its ambitions, so that we know how to chart our own course," Tillerson stressed.

He was expected to make hardline statements as pro-Democratic media in the US accuse him, as well as Trump, of sympathizing with Russia. However, the remarks mention neither Russia’s alleged interference in the US presidential election nor the future of anti-Russian sanctions. Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was "disappointed" with it.