Russian Foreign Minister Believes US Policy on Russia Was Delegated to Bolton

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that US Foreign Secretary Mike Pompeo appeared to not be involved in the US policy on Russia anymore with such functions delegated to US National Security Adviser John Bolton.

"As for Pompeo, you know, I have not spoken to him for a long time. I have a feeling that he is no longer engaged in foreign policy course on Russia … So far, the policy on Russia has been clearly delegated to John Bolton," Lavrov told the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio station.

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Relations between the United States and Russia has worsened following since 2014 because of their disagreement over the crisis in Ukraine, blamed by Washington on Moscow.

The United States imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia after Crimea held a referendum in 2014, in which a vast majority of residents decided to reunify with Russia.

Later, in 2016, Washington accused Moscow of meddling in the US presidential election and has imposed additional sanctions.

Russia has refuted all the accusations and taken retaliatory economic restrictions, in particular, the food embargo. The tit-for-tat measures banned the imports of meat, fish and seafood, vegetables, fruit and dairy products from the EU countries, the United States and several other states. The ban has recently been prolonged until the end of 2019.