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Russia wants to resume contacts with US in 2+2 format — ambassador

The 2+2 format includes regular meetings between the foreign and defense ministers of Russia and the United States
Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov
© Alexander Shcherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, November 16. /TASS/. Russia would like to revive a number of formats of contacts with the United States, in particular, meetings between the two countries’ defense and foreign ministers, or the so-called 2+2 format, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Friday.

"We would like, for instance, to revive such a format as 2+2, i.e. between the foreign and defense ministers," he said in an interview with NTV television channel. "So far, we have been failing to do that. We hope very much that the two countries’ deputy foreign ministers will have a meeting in the near future over problems of anti-terror efforts. We hope that next year we will be able to organize a dialogue between our parliaments. At least, the Russian side has repeatedly stressed the necessity of such a dialogue."

"But I would like to say it once again that we could have done much more than we can do today," he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier that Moscow hoped for the resumption of strategic stability dialogue with Washington after the election campaign frenzy calmed down in the North American country.