MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia favors peaceful relationship with the United States and will always have a friendly attitude towards the US people, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.
"As the president said many times, we are not seeking quarrels with this country. We have always have a friendly attitude towards the US people, we remain open to constructive cooperation in areas which correspond to US interests," Lavrov said during a meeting with students of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).
According to the minister, Russia genuinely wants the bilateral political atmosphere to normalize.
"We only received this detailed note last week, we are tasking ourselves with it. We will react as soon as we finish this analysis," Lavrov said during a meeting with MGIMO.
Moreover, Moscow will respond harshly to the US measures against Russia which cause damage to Russia.
"We shall respond harshly to the things that are damaging to us out of thin air, which are only guided by the desire to ruin our relations with the United States," Lavrov said during a meeting with students of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).
“I would like to say that this whole story with exchanges of sanctions attack was not initiated by us, it was initiated by the administration of [former US President Barack] Obama. It was initiated aiming to derail Russia-US relations and not allow Trump to reach the path of his presidency with constructive proposals to make it as difficult as possible for him to implement his pre-elections promises on the need to normalize relations with Russia,” Lavrov said during a meeting with students of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).
US-Russian relations have been deteriorating during the past years over Moscow's alleged interference in the Ukrainian crisis and the 2016 US presidential election. Washington has adopted several rounds of sanctions targeting Russia, regardless of the fact that Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations.
