"I met with the officials at the [Russian] Foreign Ministry, we discussed bilateral affairs, we discussed the need to stabilize our relations… Our relations have gone up and down right now we are definitely at a low point in the relationship. But the United States remains open to having a conversation," Kavalec was quoted as saying by the press service of the US embassy in Moscow.
The relations between Moscow and Washington have deteriorated in recent years amid the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine and the introduction of several rounds of anti-Moscow sanctions. The bilateral ties have also been shadowed by the US decision to close three diplomatic offices in San Francisco, New York and Washington after the two countries traded punitive measures over what Washington claimed were alleged Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election.
