Russia Says Relations With US Worse Than During Cold War
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: 2021-04-29 07:35PM UTC
Last Modified: 2021-05-03 11:22PM PST
MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov said in an interview that was published on Wednesday that relations between the United States and Russia are worse now than even during the cold war due to a lack of mutual respect.
Lavrov stated "During the Cold War, the tensions were flying high, and risky crisis situations often emerged, but there was also a mutual respect. It seems to me there is a deficit of it now".
Earlier in the month the Biden administration enforced sanctions on Russia for allegedly interfering with U.S. 2020 presidential elections and the SolarWind hacking of several federal agencies. Moscow has denied these and says these allegations are false.
On top of the sanctions, the United States expelled 10 Russian diplomats which saw a quick response from Russia, who retaliated by expelling 10 U.S. diplomats and blacklisting 8 former and current U.S. officials as well as banning the U.S. embassy from hiring Russian citizens and nationals from a list of other countries deemed as "unfriendly".
Lavrov said that the list of countries that it deems as unfriendly and banned from being hired by the embassy will be published and released soon to formalize the decision.
Lavrov said that Moscow is ready to normalize relations with Washington but should stop posturing like a 'sovereign' while rallying U.S. allies against both Russia and China.
