Relations between the United States and Russia are plummeting. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said bluntly Wednesday (28) that his country’s relations with the United States are now “worse than they were during the Cold War.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks at a joint press conference with Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard after talks in Moscow on Wednesday. In a published interview, Lavrov said Russia’s relations with the United States are now worse than they were during the Cold War because of a lack of mutual respect.
Lavrov said Moscow is ready to normalize relations with Washington, but the United States should stop posturing as a “sovereign” and stop rallying its allies against Russia.
Lavrov said that during the Cold War, tensions soared and there were often dangerous crisis situations, but there was also mutual respect. “It seems to me that such respect is lacking now.”
Recently, tensions between Russia and the United States have increased. The Biden administration has issued several sanctions against Russia over the Kremlin’s alleged interference in the U.S. election and its alleged involvement in the hacking of the U.S. software company SolarWinds, as well as the recent build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border.
In a national address last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West not to cross the “red line.
The two countries have expelled diplomats from each other, and the Russian government has banned the U.S. Embassy from employing Russian nationals and personnel from third-party countries. Lavrov said Wednesday that the list of these countries will be published soon.
However, Lavrov also noted in an interview that Moscow is “positive” about Biden’s proposal to hold a summit with Putin, although Russia still needs to analyze all aspects of the initiative, and said he would attend a meeting of senior diplomats from Arctic countries scheduled for next month in Iceland if U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s proposal is accepted. He said he would attend the meeting of senior diplomats from Arctic countries scheduled for next month in Iceland, and would be prepared to meet with Blinken if U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also attended the meeting.
Blinken just warned Turkey and other U.S. allies Wednesday against buying weapons systems from Russia, stressing that such purchases could be subject to sanctions and lead to tensions with Washington.
The U.S. imposed sanctions last December over Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile defense system. Relations between the two countries deteriorated after Biden labeled the 1915 Armenian massacre a genocide. Turkey has said it is in talks with Russia over the purchase of a second batch of S-400s.
Blinken reiterated that Turkey is a vital NATO ally for Washington and hopes the two sides can resolve the issue.
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