MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. Russia will not permit a "one-way street" approach in its relations with the US, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a press conference on Friday, commenting on Washington’s assessment of the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden in Geneva.
"I’ve read the assessments of US officials, including the participants of the talks, on the outcomes of the Geneva talks. They are trying to position themselves in such a way that they said: "We need to return the personnel that will facilitate the work of the embassy, we need to get Russia to respond to the accusations related to the activity of hackers, who are attacking the American infrastructure, and we need to get Russia to release the Americans serving prison sentences." This is not the approach that the presidents talked about. I want those, who comment on the results of the summit in such a way, to hear this: this will not be a one-way street," the minister said.
Lavrov pointed out that Putin had supported Biden’s offer to resolve the existing issues on a mutually acceptable basis. "If the logic of the Americans is like this: we returned the ambassadors, and now you should do everything we want, and then we will see - about diplomats, cyber attacks, convicts - this is not acceptable. <…> So, if the logic that the presidents expressed in Geneva prevails among the bureaucrats, I think we will get results," the Russian top diplomat concluded.
The Russia-US summit, initiated by Washington, took place in the Swiss city of Geneva on Wednesday. Putin and Biden discussed the state and the prospects of the further development of bilateral relations, the issues of strategic security, as well as international matters, including cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 and regulation of regional conflicts. After the meeting in Geneva, Putin and Biden issued a joint statement on strategic stability.