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Russia not engaged in ‘active’ talks with US right now — diplomat

Maria Zakharova stressed that the sides had personal contacts on emerging issues, and not even on problematic issues, but problems

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. Moscow is not engaged in active talks with Washington at the moment, there are only personal contacts on emerging issues, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday on Solovyov Live YouTube channel.

"Now there is naturally no active negotiation process [with the United States]. We have personal contacts on emerging issues, and not even on problematic issues, but problems," the diplomat said.

At the same time, Zakharova recalled that for six months the Russian side "has been actively engaged in rocking the negotiation process with the United States on a number of tracks." "Cybersecurity, global security, Ukraine," the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman listed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 launched a special military operation in Ukraine following a request for assistance from the leaders of the Donbass republics. He said Moscow had no plans for an occupation of Ukrainian territories. The sole purpose is the country’s demilitarization and denazification. After that, the US, EU, and UK, as well as several other states, announced that they were imposing sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities.

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