Dialogue between the United States and Russia in a number of areas is possible if Moscow "decides not to exacerbate the situation," said the head of the State Department, Anthony Blinken.

According to him, there are areas where Moscow and Washington "could work based on common interests."

“This is, for example, strategic stability.

We have extended START III.

There is room for further work in this area.

But all of this - whether it is a clear indication of the measures that we will take if Russia continues unacceptable behavior, or a discussion of our possible actions if it decides to take a more predictable and stable course - it will all benefit from being able to speak face to face "Blinken said.

According to him, "in the end, it depends on Mr. Putin."

At the same time, the US Secretary of State added that Washington intends to respond to the "aggressive actions" of Moscow.

“The President (Joe Biden. -

RT

) since taking office, and even before that, I must say, had a very clear position on this matter.

He made it clear that if Russia continues to act aggressively or irresponsibly, we will react to it.

He also made it clear that we would have preferred a more stable and predictable relationship, ”the US Secretary of State said in an interview with CNN.

He clarified that he did not know whether the Russian President accepted Joe Biden's invitation to participate in the bilateral summit, but the discussion of this issue continues.

On April 27, a senior Biden administration official said the US was facing a "frank conversation" with Russia over Moscow's response to new US sanctions.

The official said that the White House is not in the mood for escalation, but wants to show the Kremlin "what kind of activity it does not want to tolerate."

No zeroing

The day before, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with RIA Novosti that Moscow had offered Washington to "nullify" the diplomatic conflict, but the Biden administration refused.

Lavrov clarified that he had a conversation on this topic with the US Secretary of State.

“I mentioned this to Blinken.

Not imposing.

He just said that the obvious step for us to be able to work normally would be to zero out everything that Barack Obama began when, a couple of weeks before leaving the presidency, slamming the door, ripping off irritation, arrested Russian property, violating all the Vienna Conventions , kicked out Russian diplomats, "- said the head of Russian diplomacy.

  • Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden

  • © REUTERS / Tom Brenner / REUTERS / Evgenia Novozhenina

Lavrov also said that after Biden's inauguration, he had a telephone conversation with Anthony Blinken, in which they "ended on the fact that there will be some kind of joint multilateral events, in the fields of which you can talk on occasion."

At the same time, so far no signals have been received from the American side, the Russian Foreign Minister noted.

However, the opportunity for a meeting with the head of the State Department will appear at the end of May, when Russia will take over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council from Iceland, Sergey Lavrov specified.

“In Reykjavik, a ministerial meeting is planned, in my opinion, on May 20-21.

If the American delegation is headed by the Secretary of State, I will, of course, be ready, if he is interested, to talk with him, ”Lavrov said.

Aide to the President of Russia Yuri Ushakov earlier said that Vladimir Putin's meeting with Joe Biden could take place in June 2020.

According to Ushakov, the signal from the United States has been received, Moscow is considering it.

In this case, the final decision will be made "depending on many factors," the Russian presidential aide explained.

Controversial position

Recall that another deterioration in relations between the United States and Russia occurred after Biden's sharp statement about Putin.

In an interview with ABC News, the American president answered affirmatively to the host's question whether he considers the Russian leader a "killer."

The Democrat also said that Putin will "pay the price" for the alleged "influence campaign" in the 2020 US presidential election.

However, on April 13, the presidents of the United States and Russia held a telephone conversation (it took place at the initiative of the American side), during which the state of bilateral relations was also discussed.

The Kremlin said that Biden had come forward with a proposal to hold a personal summit.

But on April 15, Joe Biden signed a decree on the introduction of new sanctions against Moscow, and the State Department announced the expulsion of ten Russian diplomats from the United States.

The pretext for this was the accusation of alleged involvement of the Russian Federation in the SolarWinds cyberattack on American government and commercial institutions.

New White House sanctions affected the Russian national debt, 16 organizations and 16 individuals.

Moscow declared that Washington's actions would not go unanswered, and declared ten American diplomats persona non grata.

In addition, on April 23, Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On the application of measures of influence (counteraction) against unfriendly actions of foreign states", according to which a number of diplomatic missions are prohibited from hiring administrative and technical personnel from citizens of Russia and third countries.

Despite Blinken's statements about readiness for negotiations, Washington continues to pursue a confrontational policy towards Moscow, so such words should not be taken seriously, American political scientist Mikhail Sinelnikov-Orishak said in an interview with RT.

“We have to watch the actions.

There are areas where the US makes certain statements, but nothing happens, or vice versa, the situation only gets worse.

Therefore, pay attention to what Blinken said is not worth it.

He said nothing new.

The same statements can be repeated, rearranging the words, and in a month or two, ”the expert noted.

According to the political scientist, when Washington makes statements about dialogue or cooperation, they mean the imposition of the American position as the only correct one.

"They do not talk about negotiations, they talk about diktat," Sinelnikov-Orishak emphasized.

According to the expert, given the current level of relations between Moscow and Washington, there are no special points of contact between the two countries, except for basic issues that can be resolved at the UN level.

Attempts to fix them can be compared to “knocking on a closed door, which no one is in a hurry to open”.

  • Russian Foreign Ministry building

  • © Aleksander Polyakov / Global Look Press

Political scientist Alexander Asafov agreed with this assessment.

“I don't think we are hearing anything new.

This is just a veiled threat in which the US accuses Russia of "escalation", although the Americans themselves are doing this.

An attempt to overload one's own actions on an opponent is not a new tactic, and in this case it was precisely it that was demonstrated, "said the interlocutor of RT.

According to the political scientist, such a reaction could have been caused by a certain anxiety after Russia's response and the formation of a list of unfriendly countries.

So far, the United States has not supported the statements of cooperation in any way, added Asafov.

“There were all the opportunities for negotiations.

Moreover, Blinken had a conversation with Lavrov about finding a constructive point to reset the relationship.

We see that this only caused a new stream of sanctions and similar awkward attempts to shift the blame onto Russia for their own actions, ”the political scientist emphasized.

The goal of such a policy of Washington towards Moscow is obvious, Asafov said.

“The United States wants to reduce Russia's influence on the global geopolitical space, influence on the energy market and the arms market. America accuses the Russian Federation of "escalation" initiated by Washington itself, and then is surprised when it encounters opposition, "the expert concluded.