moscow soon unite state impose sanction moscow 2014 russian oil tsar igor sechin tell reuters reporter would miss three things explore u.s. culture chance show children american landscape rid motor-bikes exxon mobil chief executive rex tillerson tillerson front-runner secretary state cabinet u.s. president-elect donald trump russian officials relish prospect someone long-standing tie russia chief u.s. diplomat tie tillerson meet russian president vladimir putin several time even receive medal cause disquiet among policymakers washington see relationships potential liability people moscow expect bitter rifts washington syria ukraine nato presence eastern europe heal overnight tillerson state department emergence front-runner job see moscow confirmation trump administration would put aside old enmity deal kremlin trump expect name tillerson 64-year-old texan secretary state source familiar situation say saturday tillerson would join figure russia tie already trump cabinet choice tillerson sensation say alexei pushkov pro-kremlin lawmaker upper house russian parliament businessmen definition pragmatist also lot experience work russia judge appointments key post administration trump want see decisive strong america see reason conflict russia pushkov write twitter kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov cautious tillerson cabinet prospect say appointment confirm praise personal qualities part duties head one big oil company contact representatives peskov say conference call reporters carry duties highly professional way ask close tillerson putin peskov say work meet indeed president receive mr. tillerson several time though putin know important relationship tillerson forge russia sechin one putin close lieutenants tillerson start come regular contact russian officials january 1998 make vice president exxon unit involve exploration project russia former soviet union flagship project sakhalin offshore project pacific ocean exxon operator rosneft russian state oil giant head sechin major shareholder know whole sphere excellently say oil executive close rosneft exxon speak condition anonymity involve negotiations implementation sakhalin .. start know peculiarities russian mind-set well 2012 rosneft exxon deepen cooperation sign agreement joint development oil field western siberia putin tillerson sechin come together sign ceremony late year zeljko runje vice president exxon russian operations move rosneft take post vice president member management board next big joint project launch june 2013 set joint venture explore oil kara sea arctic black sea sechin tillerson attend sign ceremony month putin award tillerson order friendship russian state honor citation say significant contribution strengthen cooperation energy sector ukraine conflict intervene 2014 test tillerson relations russian partner russia annex ukraine crimea region back separatist rebel eastern ukraine unite state start several round sanction tillerson like u.s. energy ceos pressure white house stay away annual investors meet putin st petersburg june send senior exxon executive place august 2014 exxon poise start drill kara sea universitetskaya exploratory well imminent fresh round sanction could halt work accord two offshore drill source familiar kara sea project tillerson team go crisis mode manage sign contract supply drill rig one round sanction impose give legal breathe space exxon managers push drill program two months round sanction eventually knock course source say find large reserve crude exxon representative immediately available comment soon obstacles arise sanction force exxon suspend cooperation rosneft kara sea project since idle exxon russian partner remember effort get well drill think appointment favorable russia one two source say tillerson line secretary state russia see exxon boss tip secretary state old friend