Moscow does not expect its increasingly tense relations with Washington to improve any time soon, Russia’s chief diplomat in New York said in a recent interview.
Moscow has been pessimistic about the prospects of improving battered U.S.-Russia ties, which the Kremlin branded its biggest disappointment of 2017. This year, the United States imposed new rounds of sweeping sanctions over what it has called “malign activities” and spy poisonings attributed to Russia.
Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, predicted that “practically non-existent” ties with the United States are likely to stay that way for the time being, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
“[G]iven the vulnerabilities that drift around this administration, I don’t see very bright prospects for improving [relations] any time soon,” Nebenzya was quoted as saying this weekend.
Nebenzya also said U.S. President Donald Trump’s understanding “that it’s better to cooperate” with Russia is hampered by the ongoing investigation into its alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the subject’s dominance in domestic U.S. politics.
Trump called off two planned talks with President Vladimir Putin in November, leading the Kremlin to assume a waiting stance for the next summit in hopes of addressing mutual disagreements.
“The full-scale summit issue will stand in all its magnitude in the coming year,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency Tuesday.
