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Kremlin spokesman warns against being too optimistic about Lavrov’s meeting with Trump

However Dmitry Peskov stressed that the very fact of such a meeting was important

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, December 15. /TASS/. Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov has warned against being too optimistic about Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on December 10.

"Moscow takes the fact of Minister Lavrov’s being received by the president (of the US Donald Trump - TASS) quite positively. But, in terms of bilateral relations were in such a profound crisis that even the important visit by such a heavyweight minister as Lavrov cannot revise the tendency and change the sigh from minus to plus. I don’t think there are ground for any optimism," he said in an interview with the Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) program on Russia’s television Channel One.

However he stressed that the very fact of such a meeting was important. "It is good that the visit did take place," he added.

Describing the current state of bilateral relations in general, the Kremlin spokesman pointed to the gaps and inconsistencies in the US’ attitudes towards Russia. "We cannot but see the sharp contrast between phrases like ‘Things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia’ and ‘Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing’ and regular sanction-like exercises done by various US branches of power. This contrast is obvious and it has been staying in place for years," Peskov explained.

"Of course, Trump and Putin did have a number of very positive conversations, with very positive and good things said," he noted. "The conversation were very warm but the reality is harsh and cold in our bilateral relations."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a working visit to the United States at the invitation of the US side on December 10. While in Washington, Lavrov held talks with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and was received by US President Donald Trump. "They discussed very specific topics on which we have already established dialogue - Syria, Afghanistan, and so on. Those are issues on which progress needs to be made, and movement should only be forward, not backward or sideways - issues of security, disarmament, strategic stability and so on," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said after the visit.

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