MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. It will take quite a long time and genuine effort from both sides to normalize relations between Russia and the United States, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

"The success of the ongoing Russian-American dialogue is not predetermined. Bearing in mind the ruins in which the Biden administration left our relations with the US, mending them will require a lot of time, a genuine desire from both sides, and enormous effort," he said at an event of the Valdai International Discussion club.

According to the senior Russian diplomat, Moscow "wants to be sure that the United States has really embarked on a path of abandoning its extreme hostility toward" Russia. "A guarantee of progress on this track is to be Washington’s genuine readiness for an equality-based cooperation toward reducing the conflict potential with due account of Russia’s major interests, first of all in the area of security," he said.