Despite the Kremlin's announcement today (Sunday) of a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden next June, Moscow has placed the United States on the "list of unfriendly countries." The Kremlin stressed that holding the summit depends on many factors, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that Moscow is ready to take new measures if the US escalation continues.
And the assistant to the Russian President, Yuri Ushakov, revealed that his country had received a signal from Washington to prepare for a meeting between the leaders of the two countries, stressing that it would be considered. He said, in an interview with a local media outlet, in response to a question about the possible date of the meeting between the two presidents, that the talk is about next June, and specific preliminary dates have been proposed, which he refused to disclose, stressing that there are indications from the American side “regarding his desire to hold the meeting, but discussing the summit The potential on the practical level between the two parties has not yet been launched.
The relationship between Russia and America has recently witnessed a major escalation, against the background of files related to human rights, vaccines, Syria, Ukraine and other outstanding issues between the two parties. However, matters were exacerbated by the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russian personalities, after announcing its intention to hold Moscow accountable for its hostile and reckless behavior, which included the expulsion of diplomats.
In a development indicating a major escalation, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, announced today (Sunday) that the United States is on the list of "unfriendly countries". "A list of unfriendly countries that will be banned from employing Russians to work in their diplomatic missions is being formed," she said. "These are not aggressive actions on the part of Russia, but measures in response to hostile steps from other countries," she added.
Last week, Russia threatened to reduce US diplomatic representation to 300 if Washington did not change its behaviour, ordering 10 US diplomats to leave Russia.
On April 15, the United States imposed a wide range of sanctions against Moscow to punish it for its alleged interference in the 2020 US elections, cyber infiltration, provocations against Ukraine, and other "malicious" activities.
Okaz (Jeddah) @okaz_online
