"No, it is not the Cold War. I am not sure that I have a slide rule with me to measure accurately the distance to [the Cold War]," Kislyak said to Rossiya-24 TV channel.
"You are right, there is no ideological opposition whether we build capitalism or not. But everything that we build has a human face, that is why it differs significantly from [what is done by the United States.] But this is not a very problem of our relations. The problem in our relations, what I have tried to say, is in the US nationals' feeling of absolute exceptionalism, and their alleged right to tell the others what is good and what is bad," Kislyak explained.
"Everything that is going on in Russia-US relations is a pretty complex issue, it will remain for a long time, because the world is changing. And it is changing in the way that the United States is losing its exceptional possibilities for dominating the world. Look at the economy. Russia is not at the level to compete with the US economy, but Europe is close, China is almost there. US exceptionalism is staring to sag," Kislyak told the Russian Rossiya 24 broadcaster.
Speaking about the economy, he added that the new sanctions against Russia will be very hard to lift in US reality.
"The economic sanctions that we have been discussing so much recently were made in such a way that it will be very hard in US reality to lift them. Even if it happens that someone decides to start meeting their requirements," Kislyak said, adding that the requirements themselves are "strained, sometimes even abusive."
He stressed that the entire mechanism was designed for the US law to prevent the development of normal economic relations with Russia.
On Thursday, Trump blamed the Congress for "an all-time & dangerous low" in relations between the United States and Russia. Trump was apparently referring to the bill he signed into law on Wednesday that included new sanctions against Russia and prevented Trump from lifting any current sanctions without congressional approval.
The Russian Foreign Ministry described the new sanctions as "absolutely illegitimate" and responded with its countermeasures, suspending the use of all US Embassy warehouses and its compound in Moscow. Russia also mandated that the US cut the size of its diplomatic staff in Russia by 755people by September 1.
