MOSCOW (Sputnik) — He spoke following a report by Russia's Izvestia newspaper claiming that Ryabkov's meeting set for Monday, July 17, would be canceled if Washington failed to return Russian diplomatic compounds in Maryland and New York.
"We plan to hold this meeting. Despite the difficulties of the current moment in the dialogue with the US, we consider contact necessary," Ryabkov said Thursday.
Earlier in the day media reported, citing a diplomatic source that the meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon could be canceled by Russian side if the issue concerning Russian diplomatic compounds not addressed.
Moscow has already canceled such meeting once, when the two diplomats were expected to meet on June 23 in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, citing Washington's decision to introduce new sanctions against Russia over alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.
Two compounds belonging to Russia were closed down at the end of 2016 as part of the sanctions introduced by then-President Barack Obama's administration over Russia's alleged interference in the US presidential election, which Moscow has repeatedly denied. At the same time, 35 Russian diplomats were expelled from the United States.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow would take retaliatory measures against Washington if the situation with Russia's diplomatic property in the United States was not resolved. On the same day, Ryabkov told Sputnik that Russia had prepared a "tough" response to the United States' move among other options. Later on Tuesday, State Department's spokesperson Heather Nauert confirmed that Ryabkov and Shannon would address the issue of Russian compounds during their meeting.
