MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Russia is discussing no deals with the United States in return for lifting sanctions against Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
"Now it is hardly possible to speak about any deals: first there is the need to decide on the date and venue of meeting of the two presidents," Peskov said.
The aides of the two leaders will soon start working on the meeting, and "we hope this will be rather quickly." "At the meeting, the heads of two countries will be able to continue discussing in detail the issues that they mentioned during the phone conversation," he said.
- Merkel’s ally calls to lift anti-Russian sanctions in 2017
- Trump's counselor Conway confirms lifting anti-Russian sanctions 'under consideration'
- Kremlin denies having information on Trump’s plans to lift anti-Russia sanctions
- US lawmaker hopes anti-Russian sanctions to be reversed
- Lithuania’s top diplomat: Lifting anti-Russian sanctions would contradict EU principles
Peskov said Saturday’s phone conversation was "good, constructive," and useful for launching the discussion on a whole range of issues concerning regional and international security "from the viewpoint of naming priorities in possible cooperation in fight against terrorism."
"It was also rather useful as the heads of state said respect was a very important principle of bilateral relations," Peskov said. "Over the past years, the lack of mutual respect mainly became the reason for a setback and deterioration of our relations," he added.
Peskov noted that Moscow saw "Washington’s readiness to solve difficult issues through dialogue." "This is for what President Putin called rather consistently but where unfortunately he did not see reciprocity over the past years."
Earlier this month, The Times and Bild newspapers published an interview with Trump where he spoke about the prospects of lifting sanctions against Russia and also about the dialogue on nuclear disarmament with Moscow. Some mass media reports interpreted his words as a proposal to ease sanctions in exchange for a kind of a nuclear deal.
Joint struggle with terrorism
Joint struggle against terrorism, measures to maintain strategic stability, the settlement of regional conflicts and development of bilateral ties may become points of agreement in relations between Russia and the United States, according to Peskov.
"It goes without saying that joint struggle against terrorism may become one of the main points of departure, although our bilateral relations’ projection to the global agenda is so vast that some other themes cannot be ruled out, either," Peskov said. He remarked that terrorism was one of the most dangerous challenges facing the world community, including Russia and the United States.
Peskov believes that "strategic stability, cooperation in the settlement of regional conflicts and bilateral relations" might serve as other points of agreement.
"Either country’s businesses show great demand for a more favorable climate and a great deal is still to be done to create it," Peskov said.
As the Kremlin’s press-service said earlier, Putin and Trump in a telephone conversation displayed the determination to work proactively together to stabilize the develop Russian-US cooperation on a constructive, equitable and mutually beneficial basis. The priority was emphasized of pooling efforts in the struggle against the main threat - international terrorism. The importance was stressed to establish mutually beneficial trading and economic relations between the two countries’ businesses.