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Russia has no behind-the-scenes communication with Trump administration — MFA

As Sergey Ryabkov noted, the status quo is "the maximum that we can regard today as a workable model in relations between Moscow and Washington"

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russia does not maintain any behind-the-scenes communication with the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, while communication with the administration of the outgoing US head of state, Joe Biden, is occasional, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in a discussion on the platform of the Valdai discussion club.

"There is no behind-the-scenes or any other communication. Nor is there any dialogue with the administration of the future president [Trump], which itself is in the process of formation," he noted. "With the Biden administration, we maintain communication on specific issues."

In Ryabkov's opinion, the status quo is "the maximum that we can regard today as a workable model in relations between Moscow and Washington."

At the same time, he noted that "it is certainly possible to work with the Trump administration."

"During its first term there was such a dialogue," he recalled. "How effective it was is a totally different matter."

"Generally speaking, there is no chance of saying there have been some results," Ryabkov summarized. "We have a dismal picture of the architecture of bilateral and multilateral agreements on international security and arms control. Therefore, managing this crisis and getting to some more stable ground, not as shaky and dangerous as there is now, should probably be identified as a priority task in any hypothetical discussions with the Americans.".

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Foreign policy Sergey Ryabkov

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