US, ‘Vassals’ Promote Freeze in Int'l Dialogue - Russian Parliament Speaker

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United States and a group of its “vassals” are trying to introduce new fashion of dialogue blocking into the international relations, Russian lower house speaker Sergei Naryshkin said Saturday.

"Well, you can see for yourself that the United States and a group of the obedient countries, you can call them ‘vassals,’ they are trying to introduce fashion to block dialogue," Naryshkin told Russia's Vesti v Subbotu weekly news program on the Rossiya television channel.

Relations between Russia and the United States went downhill in 2014, when Washington accused Moscow of fueling the Ukrainian crisis and imposed several rounds of sanctions as a punitive measure supported by several US allies. The restrictions targeted Russia's banking, energy and defense sectors.

The Russian authorities have refuted the allegations, warning that the Western sanctions are counterproductive. In response to the Western restrictive measures, in August 2014, Russia announced a one-year food embargo on some products originating in states that imposed sanctions against it. The ban has since been extended for another year.