"For my part, I can emphasize that we are open to an honest and mutually respectful dialogue - to the extent that the United States is ready for this," TASS quoted him as saying.

At the same time, he noted that at the moment there is no dialogue on the main areas of interaction with the US administration.

Koshelev also added that what is happening around Ukraine was, in many respects, a consequence of the fact that "the United States and NATO brushed aside our concerns, demands to provide legally binding security guarantees."

“At the Foreign Ministry, we believe that any conflict situations end with negotiations.

We have no other instruments of influence for promoting our policy, except for defending our positions at the negotiating table and developing legally binding documents.

The key tool is communication channels between Russia and the United States.

I want to confirm to you that such channels exist through the foreign ministries,” he stressed.

Earlier, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the United States had unsuccessfully tried to contact Russia for several weeks.