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Russia has regular contacts with US on mutual irritants — deputy foreign minister

"This is routine diplomatic work, and there is no need to make a fuss over it," Sergey Ryabkov noted

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov Donat Sorokin/TASS

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov

© Donat Sorokin/TASS

MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. Russia continues its talks with the United States to remove ‘irritants’ in bilateral relations via a diplomatic channel, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Izvestia in an interview.

"At present, we remain in touch on ‘irritants’ at the working level via a diplomatic channel with the US side in order to search for mutually acceptable solutions on concrete issues," he said.

"These contacts have been regular. This is routine diplomatic work, and there is no need to make a fuss over it," Ryabkov added.

According to the Russian diplomat, the current administration led by US President Donald Trump inherited from its predecessors a tangled web of mutual irritants.

"The pace was high at the very start, when diplomatic teams held two rounds of consultations this spring, reaching a number of agreements aimed at improving the functioning of diplomatic missions. However, it later slowed down," the Russian deputy foreign minister said. "This was due to a number of factors, including the objective need to gradually ease mutual mistrust that followed the "ice age" of Joe Biden’s tenure."

He added that Russia and US have different views about items that should be included on the agenda, "and this is natural."

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Foreign policy United States Sergey Ryabkov

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