MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin stated that so far, US senators and congresspersons have made no attempts to reestablish dialogue with their Russian colleagues.
"Most importantly, so far, we have not seen any attempts from the side of [US] congressmen and senators. There are some initiatives from separate, and, perhaps, more reasonable representatives, who are more concerned about the situation in the world, but they are being shut down immediately by constant and rigorous attacks," the speaker told reporters on Tuesday.
The Russian MP reminded that "friendship is a two-way street." "If we want trust, of course, there must be dialogue," he stressed. "But you know that the Russian side, the deputies, the members of the Federation Council are not to blame for the lack of dialogue." Volodin noted that the US was first to reject the inter-parliamentary dialogue between the two countries.
"They [US members of parliament] think that the world should be unipolar, and they find it possible to teach everybody. We think that this is wrong, we think that dialogue is still necessary, and I would like to stress that we have talked about it," the speaker said.
"Which is why when we talk about meetings, discussions of issues, if we all understand the need for those, then there can be dialogue," Volodin continued. "But so far, we do not see this understanding from the American side, from US officials." He noted that the US acts this way not only with Russia, but also with such countries as China, Iran and Turkey. "In general, the European countries experience the same problem, because there is no dialogue, because the US makes decisions with no previous consideration, just through imposing a fait accompli," the Russian MP added.
"So it seems like this is an established style that the US is realizing," Volodin stated. "This is bad for everybody, as the world is becoming tenser, and the problems are not being resolved," he added.
In mid-November, Head of Russian Federation Council's International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev stated that he plans to reestablish cooperation with the newly appointed Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations after this person takes office.