State Department Official: US Remains Open to Dialogue With Russia

The United States is still open for a dialogue with Russia despite a certain deterioration in bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington, Kathleen Kavalec, the US State Department's deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, said Monday.

"I met with the officials at the [Russian] Foreign Ministry, we discussed bilateral affairs, we discussed the need to stabilize our relations… Our relations have gone up and down right now we are definitely at a low point in the relationship. But the United States remains open to having a conversation," Kavalec was quoted as saying by the press service of the US embassy in Moscow.

The US diplomat added that Moscow and Washington had been able to find areas for mutual cooperation, such as outer space and culture, and the United States would like to return to "a more constructive relationship" with Russia.

The relations between Moscow and Washington have deteriorated in recent years amid the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine and the introduction of several rounds of anti-Moscow sanctions. The bilateral ties have also been shadowed by the US decision to close three diplomatic offices in San Francisco, New York and Washington after the two countries traded punitive measures over what Washington claimed were alleged Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election.