Russia retaliates by imposing sanctions on US, but says it is open to meeting with White House | The world

The exchange of these punitive measures comes at a time when relations between the two rival powers continue to deteriorate in the face of Washington’s allegations. Russian interference in US presidential election And a Increasingly tense situation in eastern Ukraine.

Washington on Thursday announced a series of new sanctions against Russia 10 Russian diplomats expelled and US banks banned from buying Russian government bonds as of June 14.

Moscow’s response was quick and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Friday that he was expelling 10 U.S. ambassadors.

The head of the US Federal Prisons Agency and two former senior government officials will be barred from entering Russia. Donald Trump, Former National Security Adviser and former director of the CIA.

In addition, Lavrov said he would “recommend” US Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan to return to Washington for “serious and in-depth consultations.”

“We have not received any official diplomatic letter detailing the Russian government’s decision against US diplomats in Russia,” Sullivan said in a statement Friday.

Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov has already been summoned for consultation in mid-March, following US President Joe Biden calling Putin a “killer”.

Moscow announced on Friday it was expelling five Polish ambassadors, pointing out that it had set aside “some painful steps” for US companies.

Invites the Kremlin to the White House

While the Kremlin considered US sanctions “unacceptable,” it considered Biden’s call for “expansion” “positive.”

President Putin spoke [em primeiro lugar] The need and expansion to normalize relationships […]Therefore, it is in the best interests of the two heads of state to unite, “said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president.

Since coming to power, Biden has vowed to be tougher with Moscow than his predecessor, Donald Trump, and has been accused of being complacent with Putin.

On the other hand, the White House tenant proposed to his Russian envoy a summit “in the third country” and “in the coming months”.

“It’s time to expand,” Biden said Thursday.

The idea of ​​a meeting was well received in Moscow, however, although Peskov said that Putin was the proposer of the in-depth dialogue, Biden mentioned the call for a public and live online conversation in March after calling the Russian president “Assamese”. . The White House turned down the offer.

The President of Finland has announced that Finland has offered to hold a summit between Biden and Putin. The Nordic country has already organized a summit in 2018 between Trump and Putin.

Relations between Russia and the United States

Relations between Russia and the United States have deteriorated significantly since 2014, when Moscow annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

Washington’s sanctions, announced Friday, are a retaliation for the massive 2020 cyber attack, which Russia has formally used as a vector for Solar Winds, the U.S. publisher of computer programs that has affected many US federal organizations.

Russian foreign intelligence, which has been directly accused by Washington, called the allegations “delusional.”

These differences between Russia and the United States come amid growing Russian-Ukrainian tensions.

Ukraine accuses Russia of seeking a reason to occupy the country, while Russia accuses Ukraine of preparing an offensive against pro-Russian separatists from the Donbass (eastern Ukraine).

Leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France on Friday called on Moscow to withdraw its troops from the Russian-Ukrainian border.

At the end of a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky proposed a summit with Russia, France and Germany.