Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov said that so far relations with the Biden administration are developing relatively calmly, he wrote in his Telegram channel
However, he noted that there are routine statements from the US, not quite diplomatic activity on the part of the embassy during protests in Russia, harsh condemnations over human rights violations, unconvincing against the background of mass arrests in the US itself, but, otherwise, things are looking better than expected.
“Lavrov and Blinken even seem to have agreed to cooperate against Covid-19, which was previously out of the question. However, it has only been two weeks since the inauguration. It’s not yet evening. And now, Biden’s national security aide Jake Sullivan, as if to counterbalance Blinken, reports that the US intends to step up sanctions against Russia and hold it accountable for “malicious acts”. This is called “dual-track diplomacy”. It usually leads to renewed confrontation. Conversations about cooperation remain at the level of words, and hostility begins to rule politics”, – the senator stressed.