GORKI, February 1. /TASS/. The deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, believes that the new US President Joseph Biden currently has no intention to normalize ties with Russia.
"Apparently, our negotiation partners - both the new [presidential] administration and President Biden himself - currently do not consider it feasible - to put it mildly - to normalize ties with the Russian Federation, which, in our opinion, is wrong," he said in an interview with the Russian media.
Medvedev did not elaborate on how the Russian-US ties may unfold during Biden’s tenure, but said that "any significant change can hardly be expected" in this domain.
Speaking about possible contacts with the United States within the framework of the Security Council, Medvedev said they would depend on the US leader’s stance.
"If such instructions are given [to Biden’s subordinates], contacts will take place. If not, there will be none. It depends on them," he said.
"We never tried to hide ourselves. In this sense, Russia’s position has always been quite open," the official continued. "Even if our positions are directly opposite, if differences are fundamental, we are ready to communicate, to sit at the negotiating table and to hold discussions. We oppose attempts to force anything on us, but we are ready for discussions."
Medvedev recalled that during his tenure as the president of Russia, he met Biden in person during a working lunch organized by Italy’s former premier, Silvio Berlusconi.
"We sat down and had a talk," he said. "He [Biden] produces the impression of a normal, polite person."
"But a human dimension and a political stance are totally different things," Medvedev added.
He went on to say that he was not acquainted to other senior officials of the new administration in Washington, but, in general, many of them were quite familiar to Russia because they were members of former US President Barack Obama’s team.
"Frankly, those people are not quite friendly towards Russia too, they are not friendly at all," he said. "I don’t know how they are going to act now, but, anyway, one can presume that their beliefs remain the same."