The Russian foreign Ministry commented on the refusal of Russian-American consultations
Maria Zakharova denied the link between the cancellation of consultations and new sanctions.
Moscow. June 22. INTERFAX.RU — Cancellation consultations at the level of Deputy heads of foreign policy departments of Russia and the USA Sergey Ryabkov and Thomas Shannon is not a response to the new sanctions Washington, said the official representative of Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
I can’t say that the abolition of the consultation was a response to the imposition of sanctions. These things are a completely different category.Maria Saharanafrican the representative of the Russian foreign Ministry
According to Zakharova, the Russian Federation does not withdraw completely from the negotiations with the United States in the format of Deputy heads of foreign ministries of the two countries.
“As far as forever abolished, disbanded, or that the refusal in principle to the format — no,” she said at the briefing. Zakharova noted that in this case we are talking only about the abolition of this particular round due to the newly created American party atmosphere.
Commenting on the words of the representative of the US state Department that the U.S. remains open to dialogue with Russia, Zakharov was wondering whether in this case the U.S. sanctions are part of the foreign policy work of the state.
“If Yes, then you need to be honest and say that the sanctions policy is an official part of the foreign policy doctrine of this country, and then we will all know about it,” — said the representative of the foreign Ministry.
She noted that the United States, taking the anti-Russian sanctions, though somehow argued their introduction. However, the current tightening of repressive measures, according to the Russian diplomat, defies logic.
“Therefore it is impossible to be open and to try to isolate (Russia — Interfax). This is absurd,” — concluded Zakharov.