MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. The Kremlin states with regret that the United States remains Russia’s opponent and not a partner, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

"It [the United States] can hardly be called a partner now. It is rather our opponent. So far, there are no partner programs and relations, to our regret. Although, President Putin has repeatedly demonstrated political will for normalizing these relations," the Kremlin spokesman noted.

The only comforting fact is that Russia and the United States "have switched "from just a descent [in bilateral relations] to negotiations, which are being accompanied by a further plunge," Peskov pointed out.

The Kremlin spokesman welcomed as "quite a positive sign" that Russian experts started their work in Geneva today to discuss strategic stability issues.

"We hope, at the very least, that through such contacts, we will be able to convey our positions far more fully to each other," Peskov said.