MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. The Russian side highly appreciates the possibility to discuss all problems in bilateral relations with the United States with US National Security Adviser John Bolton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on the Rossiya 1 television channel.

Early this week, the US diplomat paid a working visit to Moscow. "There are a lot of questions," Lavrov noted. "We appreciate Jon Bolton’s demonstrating the biggest initiative in what concerns maintaining ties with the colleagues in Moscow."

The Russian top diplomat pointed to the fact that Bolton is the most frequent guest in Moscow. "He was here in July and came now. Between these visits, he met with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev in Geneva," he noted. "We think it important that an official of such a high level demonstrates concrete interest to concrete issues of our bilateral agenda."

According to Lavrov, he knows Bolton for quite a time. "We know each other since the late 1990s when I was director of the international organizations department and he was in charge of the United Nations maters with the US Department of State," he said. "Later on, we met in New York when I was Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations and he was Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security."

The program’s host noted that Bolton, who had been received by Russia’s senior and top officials, seemed to be doing the job of the entire US administration.

"Obviously, it does mean something. Maybe they have some sort of "specialization," the Russian minister noted. "Or they have an agreement that Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is dealing with North Korea, primarily preparing another summit. There is no one else to deal with foreign policies."

"Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and US Defense Secretary James Mattis briefly met on the margins of the ASEAN events in Singapore. They shook hands and expressed readiness to maintain contacts. That’s all," Lavrov added.

Notably, Bolton was the one to tell the Russian side that his country was withdrawing from the Antiballistic Missile (IBM) Treaty back in 2001.

"But the messenger is not to blame. It was the decision of the US leadership," Lavrov stressed.

The Russian top diplomat recalled that in reply to Moscow’s warning that the withdrawal from the IBM Treaty would be a dangerous step, US 43rd President George W. Bush told Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country was doing that not against Russia as it posed no threat to the United States. "If we needed to take some response measures they would not consider them as aiming against the United States. That’s when it all began," Lavrov added.