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Russia open to communication with US, stays in touch now via Jake Sullivan — Lavrov

The Russian top diplomat noted that he would not reject communication with his Western counterparts

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/. Washington contacts Moscow via US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and relations on embassy issues also continue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Russian TV Wednesday, adding that Russia remains ready for communication with the US.

"There have been contacts from [US National Security Advisor] Jake Sullivan. There are, of course, contacts on the issue of the operation of embassies: our embassy there and the American one here. We are sorting out the workload - not too successfully - created by [ex-US President Barack] Obama in the three weeks before the inauguration of [former US President Donald] Trump, when he slammed the door, expelled dozens of our diplomats, seized five properties and so on. Basically, that’s when it all started. So we are ready for contacts," the minister said.

Lavrov noted that he would not reject communication with his Western counterparts.

"Each time [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken requested contact - it happened twice in the last eighteen months, I think - I either answered his phone call or we talked on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali for about ten minutes. But there were no more requests," the minister explained.

He also pointed out statements made by US officials that they will support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

"They never answer the question - ‘it takes’ to do what? It is one thing to end the military campaign, like they ended it in Afghanistan or in Iraq. It is, probably, a slightly different thing If they want to use this campaign to completely annihilate the Ukrainian army. That is, when they smelled trouble in Afghanistan, in Iraq, they simply high-tailed it out of there. They have no interest in Ukraine itself," the foreign minister concluded.

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