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Russian ambassador to US says too early to discuss date of his return to Washington

The diplomat is currently in Moscow for consultations on bilateral relations following US President Joe Biden's notorious interview

MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said that so far, it is too early to discuss the date of his return to the US as the consultations continue.

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"As of today, it is too early to talk about the date [of return to Washington]. Consultations continue. Additional time will be needed to conclude the discussion in Russian ministries and agencies," Antonov said, answering a question from TASS. "When this work is done, we will determine the date of the return," he added.

On Wednesday, the ambassador met with members of the Russian Federation Council (upper chamber of parliament) committees on international affairs and security. According to him, he had a "very demanding" conversation with the senators. "We discussed the current state of Russian-US relations and tried to provide a deep analysis of the reasons why we find ourselves in the deepest crisis of relations and ties with the US," Antonov said.

He added that both Moscow and Washington are in need of good pragmatic bilateral relations. "We won’t be chasing anyone. If the US wants to maintain normal relations with Russia, we will always have a positive answer. But I would like to stress that we have no time to lose. Two permanent members of the Security Council, two powers that own 90% of nuclear weapons - we need to talk, we need to think about the fate of the world and about security," Antonov said.

In an interview recorded on March 16 with ABC, US President Joe Biden said that the Russian government must "pay a price" for allegedly meddling in US elections. Moreover, when asked whether he considered Putin to be a "killer," Biden answered that he did. Later, the White House and the US State Department issued statements that said that Washington expects to have constructive cooperation with Moscow in spheres of mutual interest, however, it has no plans to smooth out the differences in bilateral relations. After these statements, Russian Ambassador to US Anatoly Antonov was summoned to Moscow for consultations. Antonov has been in Moscow since March 21. He has already held several meetings, namely at the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian State Duma (lower chamber of parliament). On Monday, Antonov told TASS that he expects to return to Washington in the near future.

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