MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. The United States has not taken the opportunity to send a positive signal to Russia by disrupting the visit of Russia’s Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko to the events of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in New York. Instead, Washington has made it clear that one should not expect any changes in the US confrontationalist approach to Russia, Chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Alexey Pushkov told TASS on Thursday.

"First of all, the US authorities’ refusal to issue a full-fledged visa to Valentina Matviyenko, which would allow her to participate in the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union holding its event under the UN auspices without any restrictions, attests to the fact that there are no changes in the Russian-US relations," Pushkov said. He recalled that hopes had been expressed, including by some media outlets, that after the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry to Russia in May some shifts in the Russian-American dialogue would begin.

"Now the American side, the State Department had an excellent opportunity to send a positive signal to Moscow by issuing an unrestricted visa to one of the leaders of the Russian state for participation in the work of an international organization in the United States," the Russian lawmaker said.

"Therefore, one can hardly expect that there will be some shifts in the approaches on the American side," Pushkov said. "This has been confirmed by the decision of the U.S. Department of State." The parliamentarian added that Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland had recently made a similar statement. "In all likelihood, the ‘hawk wing’ in the US Administration continues to take the upper hand, and we cannot talk about easing the confrontationalist content in the US foreign policy toward Russia," he said.