MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Washington's dangerous and short-sighted policies put the United States and Russia on the verge of a direct clash, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday.

In her commentry distributed on Monday in connection with a statement by US State Department Spokesman Ned Price about Russia's "blame" for the deterioration of US-Russia relations, the diplomat stressed that "the very effort of the United States to maintain American hegemony, by all means, ignoring new geopolitical realities, as well as its arrogant unwillingness to engage in serious dialogue on security guarantees, has led to the predictable result". "After the high-profile fiasco in Afghanistan, America is increasingly drawn into a new conflict, not only supporting the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev financially and with weapons, but also increasing its military presence on the ground," she said.

"This is a dangerous and short-sighted policy that puts the US and Russia on the verge of a direct clash," Zakharova pointed out, "For its part, Moscow urges the Joe Biden administration to soberly assess the situation and not to unleash a spiral of dangerous escalation. We hope that they will hear us in Washington, though there is no reason for optimism so far."

According to her, Russia is interested in de-escalating tension and agreeing on the principles of peaceful coexistence on the basis of strict mutuality. "We do not give up on communication with the US at various levels, but for at least minimal progress we need counter-movement, which requires political will, open-mindedness and readiness to negotiate honestly, without a double-bottom line. And this is exactly what Washington completely lacks right now," the diplomat added.