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Russia Ready for Dialogue With US But Washington Slaps Sanctions for No Reason, Russian FM Says

VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik) – Moscow is ready to resume dialogue with Washington in any format which the United States currently finds comfortable, however, Washington continues to introduce sanctions against Moscow without explaining any reasons behind its moves, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Izvestiya newspaper, released on Thursday.
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"Our US colleagues are trying to introduce unilateral sanctions without even bothering to explain some reasons — [they are doing it] just for no reason at all. This contradicts the sentiment which is constantly being voiced by the US president [Donald Trump]," Lavrov said, adding that Russia was "always ready to resume relations in the formats which the United States currently finds comfortable."

The foreign minister recalled that Russia-US relations were being undermined despite Trump’s plans to normalize them.

The US Democrats are aggressively trying to find some "secret ties" between Trump and Russia and some pretexts to impeach the president, Lavrov said, expressing regret that a part of the US elite is trying to benefit from the Russia case ahead of the 2020 presidential race.

Lavrov noted that despite that, dialogue between the two countries in fighting terrorism had recently seen some progress.

Moreover, Moscow has been suggesting that a bilateral dialogue on cybersecurity should be initiated. However, Washington had not provided any comprehensive response to these suggestions, Lavrov pointed out.

Relations between the United States and Russia have been at what officials from both nations called the lowest point since the Cold War. Washington introduced multiple rounds of sanctions against Moscow, calling Russia one of the United States' adversaries, which Moscow has criticized.

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