The relations between Moscow and Washington are likely to remain extremely cold with the new US administration that will continue a tough anti-Russian policy, the deputy chief of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev wrote in his op-ed published by tass.com on Saturday.
“Our relations are likely to remain extremely cold in the coming years,” he wrote. “And right now we do not expect anything but the continuation of a tough anti-Russian policy,” Medvedev said with reference to the upcoming start of the work of US President-elect Joe Biden.
“Russia, on the contrary, is ready to work with any US president, ready to restore cooperation in a wide range of areas,” Medvedev noted, adding though that it can “hardly expect any reciprocal steps from the new American administration.”
“We expect it is highly likely that the United States will consistently pursue an anti-Russian policy. In recent years, the trajectory of relations between Washington and Moscow has been steadily going downhill, no matter who was at the helm in the White House,” the deputy chief of the Security Council said.
He added that “there was indeed some hope of reversing the negative dynamics during the Trump presidency.” “After all, back in 2016, it seemed that relations between the two countries could not be any worse than those under B. Obama. However, the following years have dispelled this illusion. The Trump administration consistently strengthened the systemic confrontation between Washington and Moscow, continued its sanctions policy against our country wishing, inter alia, to force it out of the energy markets, and reduced our diplomatic contacts to a minimum. And this was done against the background of D. Trump constantly speaking about the desire to ‘get along with Russia’. His words did not matter much, however, as numerous restrictive measures in the Congress were supported by both Democrats and Republicans,” Medvedev said.
