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Russia not shying away from contacts with US, but no sane proposals so far, Lavrov says

As Sergey Lavrov said, the situation, primarily in the United States itself, has gotten to the point where it just can’t get any worse

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. Moscow is not rejecting any contacts with Washington, but nobody has offered any sensible initiatives so far, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

"All these talks that someone is willing to meet us or someone is reluctant to meet us - they [the US] seem to be convincing themselves. We are not imploring anyone. We have never turned down a single serious, sane proposal on holding contacts. No one is offering any sane initiatives," Lavrov told Pavel Zarubin’s "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on Rossiya-24 television.

Asked whether US President Joe Biden’s reluctance to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin could complicate things globally, Lavrov said: "Not at all, because the situation, primarily in the United States itself, has gotten to the point where, in my opinion, it just can’t get any worse."

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was not planning to request a meeting with Putin at this stage, but that Washington was ready to consider Moscow’s proposals for a prisoner exchange.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov

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