MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. The chance for Russia and the United States to normalize their relations is greater than it was before the Geneva-hosted Putin-Biden summit and it would be unforgivable to pass up this opportunity, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with the International Life magazine on Tuesday.
"I believe that the answer is yes," the senior Russian diplomat said in response to a question about whether a window of opportunity had opened up for Russia and the United States to normalize their ties.
"This chance does not just exist, it is probably greater than many had thought before the summit and it will be much more unforgivable if we let it slip through our fingers now," Ryabkov stressed.
The Russian side started to implement the accords reached in Geneva literally upon the delegation’s return to Moscow after the summit, the senior Russian diplomat pointed out.
"We handed over our proposals to the Americans fast enough on how to organize a dialogue on strategic security. We did not pause whatsoever to start discussing the agenda related to IT security or cybersecurity, to use the American terminology. The issues of bilateral relations, the so-called irritants, were discussed in a business-like manner, although a backlog of problems in this area and their huge pile substantially surpass all that can warrant quick progress by all standards. Naturally, I foresee great difficulties on this way," Ryabkov noted.
A lot of circumstances impede the movement forward in this work," the high-ranking Russian diplomat pointed out. "This relates to the negative attitude towards Russia in the US media and on Capitol Hill, as well as a huge backlog of issues when time and effort have to be spent on bringing the strata to the surface, so to speak, and remove these accretions that have piled up for years," the Russian deputy foreign minister said.