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Biden’s administration fully aware of Russian proposals for dialogue, top diplomat says

The foreign minister reiterated that Russian President Vladimir Putin, when congratulating Joe Biden on winning the election, confirmed Moscow’s determination to cooperate on all issues reflecting mutual interests

MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. Russia has already proposed to the US to establish cooperation in various spheres of mutual interest, and the administration of President-elect Joe Biden is fully aware of it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference on the results of Russia's diplomacy in 2020 on Monday.

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"We don’t need to do anything to express a desire to have normal relations with the US which would reflect the mutual responsibility of the two largest nuclear states for international security on a global, regional, and all other levels. We made such offers. So the Biden administration also knows about it perfectly well," he said in response to a question of what Russia is ready to do to demonstrate a desire to improve relations with the US.

The top diplomat reiterated that Russian President Vladimir Putin, when congratulating Joe Biden on winning the election, confirmed Moscow’s determination to cooperate on all issues reflecting mutual interests that bear significance for global fate. "Consider this an invitation to a dialogue," he added.

He emphasized that on such important subjects as cybersecurity or investigation concerning Russia’s alleged meddling in the US affairs, on space exploration, on arms control - "on all these subjects Russian proposals are on the table."

"In September, if one talks about cybersecurity, President Putin publicly invited the US - not specifically President Trump or somebody else, but the US as the country which, we hope, will have at least some signs of continuity in foreign policy left and at least some signs of negotiability in foreign policy, - to sit down and sort out our relations in the sphere of cybersecurity and in the sphere of interfering in each other’s affairs," he reiterated.

The top diplomat noted that it was proposed to officially announce that nobody will meddle in one another’s affairs and to restore a regular dialogue on cybersecurity. "On all aspects of those issues that emerge in the cyber sphere - both from the point of view of state security, and military-political security, and from the point of view of cyberspace being used by various criminals - terrorists, pedophiles, human traffickers. Yet we haven’t received any response to these proposals," he concluded.

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