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Lavrov: Russia-US Relations Need Second Reset

© East News/APRussia-US relations need a second 'reset', Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview to Channel 5
Russia-US relations need a second 'reset', Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview to Channel 5 - Sputnik International
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Russia-US relations need to be reset for the second time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview to Channel 5.

Updated 3:09 p.m. Moscow Time

MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russia-US relations need to be reset for the second time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview to Channel 5.

“We are in touch, we have a dialogue, even though an abridged one, but we have it. The main problem is that we are very much interested in normalizing these relations, but it is not us who has destroyed them. And now we need what the Americans might call ‘a reset’, a term introduced by the US President Barack Obama administration after our relations cooled down significantly over the last years of George Bush’s presidency,” Lavrov said.

“I suppose, they will come up with something else: ‘reset #2’ or ‘reset 2.0,’” the minister added.

Lavrov affirmed that Russia did not want to pursue a war of sanctions with Western countries nor start another arms race, but looked to cooperate with the West.

Relations between Russia and the United States were strained during the Bush administration, but began to improve in April 2009 when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Brack Obama met at the G20 summit in London. Both presidents stated they were "ready to move beyond Cold War mentalities and chart a fresh start in relations between [the] two countries,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Later in March 2009, Lavrov and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton coined the term “reset button” representing the countries’ alleged fresh start.

As the Ukrainian crisis escalated, the relations between Russia and the West deteriorated again, as the United States and their partners kept unjustifiably accusing Russia in meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs.

Russia repeatedly denied the accusations, stating it is not a party to the Ukrainian domestic conflict.

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