WASHINGTON, May 22. /TASS/. The talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken should be judged as successful after the relations between the United States and Russia had sunk so low, Peter Kuznick, Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, has told TASS.
"Relations between the United States and Russia had sunk so low that the mere fact that Blinken and Lavrov neither exchanged blows nor hurled insults at each other at their meeting in Iceland must be judged a relatively successful outcome," he believes.
According to the expert, taking into consideration the tensions in relations between Moscow and Washington and all the accumulated problems, "many feared a repeat of the disastrous meeting that Blinken and [US Presidential National Security Adviser Jake] Sullivan conducted with Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi and Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi in Anchorage in March."
Kuznick recalled that then Blinken started the talks with condemnation of Beijing’s policies, but was rebuked by the Chinese delegation.
"Lavrov had warned in advance that Russia would no more tolerate such a display of American arrogance than China did. Blinken and Biden apparently got the message," the expert said.
"At the nearly two-hour meeting, Blinken and Lavrov calmly and respectfully aired their differences, but they carved out areas of common interest on which the world's two most militarily powerful countries could work together moving forward," he added.
Breathe a sigh of relief
Kuznick is convinced that the outcome of the meeting could be considered encouraging, but "such could not have been predicted even one month ago," given a serious escalation in relations.
According to the expert, recently "talk of war was in the air and top military leaders began discussing the possibility of nuclear war in a way," in regard to the fact that "both sides continue to spend vast sums to modernize their nuclear arsenals."
"Fortunately, in recent weeks, steps were taken on both sides to calm the situation and cool the rhetoric," he noted.
Kuznick believes that "while there were no concrete accomplishments resulting from the meeting, the world can at least breathe a sigh of relief that the two countries that have veto power over the continued existence of life on this planet are at least talking and not threatening each other."
"While diplomacy doesn't always yield the desired results, military actions almost never do. Hopefully, the Americans and the Russians will continue talking, try to understand the world as it looks through each other's eye, and realize that what unites us is far greater and more important than what divides us," the political analyst stressed.
"While that has not been the case for almost twenty years now, perhaps there is now renewed, if admittedly slight, hope for optimism," he added.
Meeting in Reykjavik
Lavrov and Blinken, as chief of US diplomacy, held their first face-to-face meeting on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in the capital of Iceland. Russia assumed chairmanship of the council for 2021-2023 at that meeting.
US President Joe Biden said earlier that he expects to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Europe in June.
On April 13, the Russian and US presidents held their second telephone conversation after Biden had taken office. The Kremlin said that Putin and Biden had focused on bilateral relations and international issues. The White House said that Biden had suggested holding a Russian-US summit in a third country within the next few months. After that, the US head of state explained that he had offered to meet his Russian counterpart in the summer in Europe. The US president is scheduled to visit Europe in mid-June to attend the G7 and NATO summits.
The G7 summit will take place in the resort town of Carbis Bay on the Atlantic coast of the Cornwall Peninsula in the UK on June 11-13. NATO will hold its summit in the Belgian capital on June 14.