MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/. The top foreign policy parliamentarian in Russia's State Duma assembly said on Friday that US President Barack Obama had "actually acknowledged" it was impossible to isolate Russia.
After Moscow’s commemorations of the 70th anniversary of Allied victory in World War Two, "it has become clear that a policy of Russia’s maximum isolation has failed to produce desired results", said Alexey Pushkov, head of the International Affairs Committee at the Russian parliament's lower chamber.
"If Obama claims again today that he has isolated Russia he will be a laughing stock," Pushkov told a meeting at the State Duma.
"It is impossible to talk about isolation when within three days, Moscow was visited by leaders of China, India, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Vietnam, Germany, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovakia and many other states," he noted.
"When Obama himself could not stand his own isolation and, while impressions of the anniversary celebrations were still fresh, he urgently sent Secretary of State John Kerry to us for extensive and long negotiations, actually acknowledging that a country such as Russia cannot be isolated.
"By trying to isolate Russia, you are left on the margins of the political process and deprive yourself of important foreign-policy leverage," the lawmaker said, noting, however, that this did not necessarily mean the United States would immediately abandon its policy of pressure on Russia and would not mobilise foreign policy resources against the country.
"It doesn't mean that sanctions will be lifted soon and it doesn't mean that the United States will fundamentally change its position on Ukraine," Pushkov said. "But it certainly means that an attempted mounted attack has failed, and Washington seems to have realised that."