US Charge d'Affaires Says It Is Important for Biden That Embassy in Moscow Remain Open

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States has channels of communication with Russia at the working level, and it is important for President Joe Biden that the embassy in Moscow continues to work, US Charge d'Affaires in Moscow Elizabeth Rood told RIA Novosti.

"Our bilateral relations are a rather low level and our embassies are considerably reduced from their normal size. But that said, we do have channels of talking with Russia at the working level, about all the many things that are necessary to keep our embassies functioning," Rood said, noting that "it's very important to President Biden that our embassy remain open and functioning."

The charge d'affaires expressed hope that Moscow and Washington would not expel diplomats anymore "because it's in the interest of both of our countries to have fully staffed, fully functioning embassies."

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said earlier in November that it took a lot of work to steer Washington toward understanding that sanctions were causing significant damage to Russian diplomats around the world.

Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia saw no reason to maintain its current diplomatic presence in Western countries, with more attention needed to be paid to countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The minister pointed out that Moscow was shifting its geographical focus from the West to the countries that are "willing to cooperate with Russia on mutually beneficial and equal terms."