MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/. Members of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) are ready for a dialogue on the problematic issues of bilateral relations with a delegation of US senators and congressmen, which is expected to visit Russia next week, Chairman of the Federation Council International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev wrote in his blog post on the upper house’s website.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said that a delegation of both houses of the US Congress would pay a visit to Russia from June 30 to July 5. The US legislators are expected to visit Moscow and St. Petersburg and meet with Russian officials.
"To meet and talk, including with the US senators and congressmen who plan to come to Russia as early as next week, that is, ahead of the Russian-US summit, which certainly makes our upcoming conversations in the Federation Council especially important," he noted.
Kosachev recalled that the bilateral parliamentary dialogue had been interrupted for several years not through the Russian parliamentarians' fault. "We can only welcome any steps aimed at restoring it, while being fully aware of the existing profound disagreements with our counterparts on an entire range of issues," he stressed.
"However, we are ready to discuss them and, most importantly, what we want to avoid at whatever the cost, that is, confrontation through lack of awareness," the politician stressed. "Our counterparts and even opponents know practically nothing about our real stance, have no firsthand knowledge about it, relying instead on media reports and expert analysis on Russia, whose level in the United States has deteriorated dramatically in recent years.".