Russia and the United States communicate only on a technical level and not as part of a proper political dialogue, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. TASR informs about it according to the report of the TASS agency.
“As you know, there are certain channels of communication between Washington and Moscow, both military and diplomatic. However, it is more about technical contacts, while political dialogue or dialogue at the highest level is not taking place,” said Peskov.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on Tuesday that outgoing US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin maintain indirect channels of communication, although they have not spoken since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops in February 2022.
The NYT also reported that the suspension of direct communications between the US and Russia will apparently end when Donald Trump takes office. The newly elected American president said last week that Putin wants to meet with him and preparations are underway for this meeting. A Kremlin spokesman said on Friday that Putin is open to talks with the newly elected US president. However, he denied that any major preparations for the Putin-Trump negotiations are currently underway.
Russia is open to dialogue
The deputy head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Ryabkov, said on Tuesday that Russia is ready to communicate with the US. “As President Putin has repeatedly said, Russia is open to dialogue. We have not been in contact with his future team since the US (presidential) election and before the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Trump next week. However, there is a readiness for such a dialogue, even on the most urgent issues,” said Riabkov.
At the same time, he said that the time has come for the US to recognize that Russia is “smoothly and successfully moving towards achieving the goals of the special military operation, and these goals will be met.”
“This does not exclude the possibility of dialogue, but such dialogue must be conducted strictly and exclusively based on the recognition of the necessity of our national interests and our determination to defend these interests by all means,” declared the deputy head of Russian diplomacy. According to him, current Russian relations with Washington are “zero.”
