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Lavrov: Russia, US should exclude tit-for-tat moves from bilateral relations

According to the diplomat, Moscow and Washington want and will cooperate on the basis of the balance of interests

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Russia and the United States should not solve problems in the bilateral relations on the "tit-for-tat" basis, but take a professional and pragmatic approach, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday after Russian-American talks.

"We also talked about the fate of Russian children who were adopted by American couples, and now we cannot get access to them. We also discussed many other things," the Russian foreign minister said. "I would like to say the main thing: every state has its own order, rules, traditions and customs. But today we have agreed in principle to discuss the whole range of our bilateral mutual concerns and irritants in a calm, pragmatic and professional way. Not on the basis of the ‘tit-for-tat’ principle, but on the basis of common sense and with taking into account the humanitarian situation of each person," Lavrov said.

According to the diplomat, Moscow and Washington want and will cooperate on the basis of the balance of interests.

"The United States has plenty of partners who disagree with it," he said. "However, this does not mean that differences in any particular issue should be the reason for not talking with anyone about anything."

"At a news conference today we spoke about how today's talks passed," the Russian foreign minister said. "We have a number of issues on which we do not have a common stance. Probably, such issues will always exist, but in the sphere where we have no differences, where we have common interests, we want to and will co-operate on an equal footing, on the basis of the balance of interests."