Moscow Not to Initiate Discussion on Easing of Anti-Russia Sanctions by US

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Russia will not initiate the discussion on the matter of easing the anti-Russian sanctions since the United States is the country which imposed these measures and it should initiate dialogue on the issue, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN in an interview Sunday.

"Russia will never initiate putting this issue on the agenda," Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesman called US President Donald Trump a "pragmatic" leader, as he is not hiding the bilateral disagreements and at the same time he is calling for a dialogue.

"He is very pragmatic… he is not hiding the fact that he disagrees in lots of things with Russia, but he is pragmatic enough to say that we have to talk and we have to be in the dialogue, we have to compare our positions in order to find the common grounds," Peskov said.

According to Peskov, Russia does not "have a better understanding" of when the dialogue to improve the Russia-US can begin.

During both the election campaign and the period after his victory in the 2016 US presidential election, Trump has made a number of statements calling for mending ties between Moscow and Washington and stressing the need to cooperate on several issues, including on fight against international terrorism.