Russian has canceled a meeting scheduled between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and U.S under Secretary of state aimed at resolving issues affecting the relationship between the two countries, CNN reports.
This announcement comes after the US announced an increase of sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities in response to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. The meeting was slated to take place in St Petersburg.
Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement saying;
“As we know, in the next few days there were plans to continue the bilateral consultations on the ‘irritants’ that we have accumulated in our Russian-American relations, plans to find ways out of the extremely difficult situation in which the American side wore the partnership and cooperation with Russia down”. After yesterday’s decision on sanctions, the situation does not allow for a round of such a dialogue, especially as there is no content for it, since Washington didn’t offer nor is offering now anything specific.”
According to reports, the spokesperson for the State Department, Heather Nauert said the U.S regretted Russia’s decision to cancel the talks. “Let’s remember that these sanctions didn’t just come out of nowhere. Our targeted sanctions were imposed in response to Russia’s ongoing violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbor, Ukraine, Nauert added.
Nauert said “From our perspective, and as Secretary Tillerson has made clear, there are many issues to be discussed. We remain open to future discussions”.
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