MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger said the organization was ready to become the platform for ameliorating the US-Russian relations.
"We are ready for mutually respectful and results-oriented communication with all of the OSCE members, including the United States. But there is nothing to do without the other sides’ interest. Unfortunately, in the light of the well-known events in Ukraine, the US side has undertaken to exert open pressure, fostering aggressive rhetoric, going beyond the diplomatic decorum," the Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry noted that the US communication style complicated both the improvement of bilateral ties and the fulfillment of the OSCE tasks, and called on Greminger to take the aforementioned fact into account when implementing his initiative.
Most recently, tensions between Moscow and Washington increased with the diplomatic staff cuts. Moscow announced in July that the diplomatic presence of the United States in Russia would be scaled down by 755 people to 455, the same number of diplomatic personnel Russia has in the United States since late 2016, when 35 Russian diplomats were expelled from the United States. In response, on August 31, the US State Department said in a press release that Washington had demanded that Moscow close down its Consulate General in San Francisco and two other diplomatic entities in New York City and Washington, DC by September 2.
