MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Washington should restore relations with Moscow before offering to negotiate the nuclear weapon issues, a senior Russian lawmaker said Thursday.
"US should first rebuild the relationship with Russia destroyed by Obama, and then offer us talks on nuclear weapons. Now his appeal is empty," Alexei Pushkov, the head of the foreign affairs committee of the lower house of the Russian parliament, wrote on his Twitter.
США должны сперва восстановить разрушенные Обамой отн. с Россией, а потом уже предлагать нам переговоры по яд.оружию. Сейчас его призыв пуст
— Алексей Пушков (@Alexey_Pushkov) March 31, 2016
The Russian Foreign Ministry has asserted as far back as November 2014 that Moscow would not take part in preparations for and the summit itself. In January, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reiterated Moscow's intention to skip the summit due to "unacceptable" interference by organizers of the event in the work of international structures, including the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Relations between Washington and Moscow deteriorated amid the 2014 crisis in Ukraine.
