Russia mulls lifting sanctions on US officials to felicitate diplomatic missions

Russia earlier yesterday proposed to obliterate the sanctions on US officials that have, over the years, hindered the diplomatic missions between the two nations. The proposal was suggested amid the talks that were underway between the US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Moscow’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. Shortly after the bilateral meeting, the Russian foreign ministry issued an official statement, saying, that Russia did not intend to escalate bilateral tensions with Washington and was considering scrapping the scores of sanctions imposed on the American diplomat and envoys. Although, Moscow registered strong opposition to the US military presence in former Soviet Central Asian countries. It also stated that Moscow was ready to retaliate against hostile US intentions. 

While the US Embassy tweeted that the dialogue between Ryabkov and Nudland was “constructive,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state-run news agencies that the talks between the two countries failed to make any major progress, particularly with regards to the embassies operation. The latter added that it could risk worsening the ties between the two nations.

“I cannot say that we have achieved great progress,” the Interfax news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying. “There is a risk of a further sharpening of tensions,” he said.

Russia’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, said in a statement post the meeting, “It was emphasized on the Russian side that hostile anti-Russian actions would not remain unanswered, but Moscow did not seek a further escalation.” Moscow further informed that Russia “proposed to remove all restrictions that have been introduced on both sides over the past few years.” RIA news agency cited Ryabkov as saying that Moscow does not rule out cooperation for US diplomatic missions. 

"We had a comprehensive, rather profound discussion of bilateral matters. Besides the under secretary of state for political affairs, the US delegation included a White House representative, which made our conversation straightforward and quite frank," Ryabkov said in comments on the consultations with Interfax. 

Moscow lifts sanction to felicitate US Under Secy of State's visit 

Russia and the United States both agreed to lift the sanction this week in order to felicitate the Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland to travel to Moscow. US State Department, in an official statement, confirmed, that Nuland was going to travel to Moscow on October 11 to meet with senior officials and other interlocutors to discuss a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues. Russia confirmed that it removed Nuland from a blacklist. Last month, Russian state agency TASS reported that Nuland did not have a Russian entry visa for her visit in October and that the considerations were in progress to see if Moscow could enable issuing an entry visa to the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.