Some ill-considered statements by American leaders threaten the collapse of relations between Russia and the United States, according to a statement from the embassy in Washington on Facebook.
Earlier, against the background of the expansion of sanctions against Moscow, the Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov for consultations. The ministry noted that the dialogue between Moscow and Washington is at an impasse and the main thing in the course of consultations is to find ways to get out of it. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry is trying to prevent “irreversible degradation, if the Americans are aware of the associated risks.”
The embassy in Washington announced that Antonov will fly to Moscow on March 20.
The diplomatic mission noted that “the current situation was the result of the purposeful policy of Washington, which over the past years, in fact, deliberately led bilateral cooperation to a dead end.”
“The administration’s unconstructive course towards our country does not meet the interests of Russia and the United States, and some ill-considered statements by American leaders do endanger the already excessively confrontational relations,” the statement said.
The embassy stressed that they are in favor of establishing a dialogue with the United States, recalling that both countries are members of the UN Security Council and bear “special responsibility for international peace and security.”
Earlier, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova, commenting on Anatoly Antonov’s invitation to consultations in Moscow, said that she would not recall such a situation.
US sanctions
On Wednesday, the US Department of Commerce expanded export restrictions against Russia: it was added to the list of countries with which the export and import of weapons is completely prohibited. US trade sanctions will affect exports related to national security, a number of exemptions for aviation and space will be valid only until September 1. The decision will come into force on March 18. The reason for such measures was the situation with Alexei Navalny and the “use of chemical and biological weapons.”
In addition, on the eve of the office of the Director of National Intelligence of the United States declassified a report in which Moscow was accused of trying to help the re-election of Donald Trump, discredit Joe Biden and “sow discord” in American society. The document refers to the introduction of new sanctions against Russia.
The Kremlin called the report “baseless and unsubstantiated.” As the press secretary of the president Dmitry Peskov emphasized, Russia had nothing to do with any campaigns against candidates in the elections. According to him, such “far from quality” materials are used as a pretext for new sanctions.
The Foreign Ministry, in turn, said that they treat the new restrictions “calmly” – such measures have already been introduced more than 90 times. At the same time, the department indicated that the strengthening of sanctions pressure on Russia “does not add chances” to normalize the dialogue between Moscow and Washington, and the responsibility for its deterioration lies entirely with the United States.
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