All news

Russian diplomat dismisses outlook for better US-Russian ties under Trump

Sergei Ryabkov said that "there is no reason for a positive outlook here, although some people just want to hope for the best"

MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Rosy forecasts that Donald Trump being elected president would somehow improve relations between Moscow and Washington are baseless, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

"There are no signs that, if he wins the upcoming election, something will change for the better in terms of how they treat Russia, and in general that the US policy toward Russia will become more sensible and responsible. There is no reason to have a positive outlook here, although some people just want to hope for the best," he said in an interview with the International Affairs magazine.

He pointed out that during Trump's tenure in the White House, the US line on Russia was very tough. "Trump far surpassed his predecessor Obama in the number of sanctions waves that were applied to Russia during his time in office," Ryabkov continued. "There were certain dangerous excesses during Trump's time in the White House, such as threatening tweets on behalf of the US president about certain US missiles that were about to fly."

Ryabkov emphasized that "such things are nothing to joke about." "This is very serious. These are destabilizing signals," he said.

Commenting on Trump's statements that he would put an end to the crisis in Ukraine the very next day if he became president, Ryabkov emphasized that "there is no magic solution, no magic wand to wave." "I believe this is still more a figure of speech than evidence that he has some kind of plan - an effective and workable one," Ryabkov said.