14 July 2017, 03:36 GMT
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US and Russian municipal authorities could play a role in restoring relations between the two countries Executive Director of the Council of Moscow Region Municipalities Oleg Ivanov told Sputnik on Thursday.
"I think amid difficult diplomatic relations we could take part in restoring relations, economic and cultural ones. And in a certain sense partly substitute official diplomatic structures," Ivanov said on the sidelines of Sister Cities International's 61st Annual Conference in Virginia Beach.
The official stressed that there were great prospects for municipal cooperation.
Relations between Moscow and Washington soared against the background of Ukrainian crisis, with the West accusing Moscow of interference in the conflict and imposing rounds of anti-Russian sanctions; and Kremlin's alleged meddling in US presidential election in 2016, which Russian officials repeatedly denied.
