Situation Surrounding Moscow-Washington Relations Doesn't Serve Russian Interests, Envoy Says

Russia's Ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, was previously invited to Moscow for talks after President Joe Biden made controversial remarks about President Vladimir Putin in a fresh round of allegations concerning meddling in the 2020 US election.

After a meeting with MPs, the diplomat noted that he had been invited to discuss the ties between the US and Russia so that the relationship between the two countries "does not completely fall into the abyss".

"This situation does not serve our interests", Antonov said.

The Moscow Kremlin

© Sputnik / Natalia Seliverstova

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"I see that all my colleagues are greatly concerned about where Russian-American relations are headed, given that two such great powers - both permanent members of the UN Security Council, bearing exceptional responsibility for international security measures - have no time to quarrel; we need to focus on specifics, and fight common challenges and threats, and, unfortunately, we have a lot of them", Antonov said.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that President Putin does not currently plan a meeting with the ambassador, as it is "not yet" in the president's schedule.

A new spat was provoked by Joe Biden's interview, in which he agreed with journalists saying that his Russian counterpart is a "killer" with "no soul". He also threatened to slap new sanctions against Moscow. Russia responded to Biden's statements by recalling its ambassador to Washington for talks, for the first time since 1998, when a similar step was taken after the US-UK bombings of Iraq.

Later, Putin proposed live video talks with Biden to discuss the issues which have built up between the two countries, but Washington rejected the offer.