Russia, US Able to Take Joint Diplomatic Efforts - Russian Cybersecurity Official

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Relations between Russia and the United States are not hopeless, and the two countries can undertake various joint diplomatic efforts, Andrei Krutskikh, Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large and presidential special envoy in international cooperation in information security, said.

In July, the UN’s Group of Governmental Experts submitted a report presenting the rules of the road in cyberspace that all nations should respect, emphasizing that the countries should not intentionally damage each other’s infrastructure with cyber-attacks. Representatives from 20 countries, including the United States, Russia and China, were involved in the preparation of the report.

"The fact that we managed to reach an agreement in the face of confrontation and sanctions makes this report even more meaningful. It is a strong political signal that the relationships [between Russia and the United States] are not at all hopeless, and we can agree and take joint and collective diplomatic efforts," Krutskikh said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper.

The official noted that Russia and the Unites States worked collaboratively at the UN cybersecurity report, and the document was approved to a large extent due to flexibility demonstrated by the US experts.

Last year, Russia's relations with the West deteriorated significantly over Ukraine crisis. In 2014, the European Union, alongside the United States and a number of other nations, accused Russia of interfering with Ukraine's internal affairs, and, as a punitive measure, imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow. The Russian authorities have repeatedly denied the allegations.