"I want to express my personal point of view: we have grounds to assert that Russian-US relations will improve. But you need patience, you need endurance, you need dialogue of both sides and, of course, time," Matvienko said.
She noted the difficulty of changing the prevailing Russophobia in the Congress and the majority of US establishment "with the stroke of a pen."
"It is necessary to create an atmosphere of trust between countries, to find mutually beneficial solutions. This process will certainly advance," Matvienko said.
The first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency in the United States are too early to draw conclusions about his foreign policy Valentina Matvienko said.
"One hundred days is not enough time to talk about a formulated foreign policy of President Trump's new administration, both in relation to Russia and in general," Matvienko said.
She reiterated Moscow's calls to exercise patience in expecting new priorities and strategic foreign policy directions while Trump's team is still not yet fully formed.
The Russian Federal Assembly's (bicameral parliament) contacts with the US Congress are "frozen," Chairperson of the Council of the Federation Valentina Matvienko said.
"Unfortunately, these contacts are frozen, they can be said to be episodic," Matvienko said in an interview.
She noted that the Russian Federation Council and State Duma's attempts to establish dialogue with the US Senate and House of Representatives "have so far failed."
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