MOSCOW, March 15, /ITAR-TASS/. The Kremlin believes there will be no return to the Cold War because of the confrontation over Ukraine, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Ren TV on Saturday, March 15.
“We do hope sincerely that we and our partners will have enough political wisdom and political realism not to slide into deeper confrontation, ideological or any other, because of Ukraine,” he said.
Despite dramatic disagreements with other countries, Russia values continuing contacts with them, he added.
When asked who initiates talks between the presidents of Russia and the United States more often, Peskov said: “It depends. They are concerned, we are concerned, that’s natural. Hence telephone calls.”
He denied assertions that Russia is a party to the conflict in Ukraine. “This is an internal Ukrainian situation,” he said.
Peskov stressed that economists’ hints at Russia’s self-isolation were illogical and absurd. “That would be illogical, unrealistic and absurd now at a time of globalisation and absolute economic interdependence,” he said.
Russia depends on the West economically just as much as the West depends on Russia, he said, adding that President Vladimir Putin and the Russian leadership were advocates of dialogue with the West.
“We are interested in the development of cooperation and we would not like the events in Ukraine to produce the opposite effect,” Peskov said.