Moscow is ready to nullify the “unhealthy and unacceptable” situation in Russian-American relations, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
At a press conference after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, he recalled that the current crisis between Russia and the United States was provoked by the administration of former US President Barack Obama. According to Lavrov, Moscow is ready to “talk” about this, but “exclusively on a mutually respectful basis and on the basis of a balance of interests of each other.”
“We are ready to search for such a balance, I hope that the Americans will also mature before that and will seek such a balance not only in the sphere of strategic stability, but also in all other areas where we have problems, and there are many of them”, – the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
At the June 16 summit in Geneva, Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden agreed to begin consultations on strategic stability, which should lay the foundation for future arms control. As stated in the summit leaders’ statement, Moscow and Washington are seeking to lay the foundation for future arms control and risk mitigation measures.
At the same time, Sergei Lavrov noted that the statements now coming from Washington do not quite correspond to the position that the American side held in the negotiations. For example, White House spokesman Jen Psaki said that Washington does not intend to warn Moscow about retaliatory cyber strikes.
In turn, Vladimir Putin during the direct line expressed hope for normalization of relations with the United States.