Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made that the situation in bilateral relations with the United States could be worse than the Cold War. About this, the minister stated in an interview with RIA Novosti.
Lavrov noted that even during the Cold War, despite the serious tension and crisis moments, the parties were experiencing mutual respect for each other. “In my opinion, now it is in deficiency,” the Foreign Minister stated.
Previously, Lavrov said that Russia offered Washington to “reset” the diplomatic conflict, started by the US President Barack Obama. The Minister noted that if the improvement of relations with Washington depended only from Moscow, the countries would have returned to normal relations.
Russian-American relations worsened in March after a sharp statement by US President Joe Bayden to Vladimir Putin. In addition, on April 15, Biden signed a decree on the introduction of new sanctions against Russia. Restrictions affected more than 30 individuals and legal entities. Among the grounds for their introduction, allegedly hostile activity of Russia in the cybersfer, interference in the US elections or other foreign countries. As part of the US sanctions package, 10 Russian diplomats from Washington are sent.
In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia published a list of sanctions against the United States. Moscow will refuse 10 American diplomats, take measures to end the hiring of citizens of Russia and third countries to the Embassy or the US Consulate Protection and to ban American diplomats of the trip beyond the locations of their basing.