MOSCOW, August 10 (Itar-Tass) - Head of the State Duma’s International Relations Committee Alexei Pushkov is surprised at Obama’s statements about growing anti-American rhetoric in Russia.
“It was not Russia who initiated the current conflict situation in the bilateral relations with the US,” he said in an interview with Itar-Tass on Saturday.
Pushkov said over past eighteen months there have been “several clearly anti-Russian actions from the side of the United States of America.” As examples, he quoted “the Magnitsky law, the very tough statements about the character of elections in the Russian Federation, the promises of the US former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be fighting against organisation of the Eurasian Union in the territory of the former Soviet Union, and the US’ introduction of black lists.”
The parliamentarian added “not Russia passed anti-American laws, to let alone Russia’s several applications about Alexander Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, the permanent addresses from the Russian Foreign Ministry regarding Russian children in the United States, which had been unanswered.” He is sure “all the negative signals on all these issues come from the US.”
“And thus, under the current conditions, it is strange, in my opinion, to be speaking about a growing anti-American rhetoric,” Pushkov said.
“The US administration, during the pause it is taking, could review and analyse closely the reasons, which have caused the present crisis situation in the bilateral relations.”
“Should it make the analysis and come to correct conclusions, the pause could be useful,” he said.
On Friday, Obama told a news conference at the White House it is “probably appropriate for us to take a pause, reassess where it is that Russia is going ... and recalibrate the relationship.”