The return of Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov to Washington will most likely not take place in the near future. The solution to this issue depends on the readiness of the United States to agree at least to a relative normalization of relations with Russia. This was announced on Wednesday, April 7, by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
According to him, the timing of the return of the head of our diplomatic mission is not a matter of the next few days.
“The timing will be determined depending on what steps Washington will take on the bilateral track. We expect that they will still be able to demonstrate a desire for at least a relative normalization of our relations and something visible in this regard, something visible and noticeable, “RIA Novosti quotes the diplomat.
On the eve it was reported that Antonov is currently in Moscow actively conducting consultations on interaction with Washington in government agencies and various departments.
On March 29, Antonov announced that he intends to return to Washington in the near future. On March 25, the diplomat noted that Russia and the United States need to jointly solve the accumulated problems, and not “quarrel”.
On the same day, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow would build a political course of relations with Washington after the completion of the revision of the actions of the new American administration.
In turn, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov noted that the actions that the United States is taking in relation to Russia “do not add any chances for normalizing relations.” According to him, the responsibility for the further deterioration of Russian-American relations lies entirely with the American side.
The Russian Ambassador to the United States returned to Moscow on Sunday, March 21. Earlier, he visited the Russian Foreign Ministry, where the consultations lasted more than two hours.