Kremlin: Russia's relations with the United States in state of collapse
The current level of relations between Russia and the United States is in a state of collapse, said Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov on Russia-1 TV, Interfax’s reports.
Peskov also added that the relations between the presidents of the Russian Federation and the US are "fairly benevolent" and that there are prospects for bilateral relations at the highest level.
Peskov said, “We all know about contacts between the special services, and this shows that there’s potential and it’s very vast. It’s simply necessary to steer the bilateral relations out of the nosedive that they [the relations] are stuck in.”
Peskov added that “for the most acute situations such as the Syria issue, for example, relations between the two presidents are being maintained.”
News agency RIA Novosti quoted Peskov as saying that all telephone contacts between the President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump were reflected in press releases last year. Peskov said that the last telephone conversations between Putin and Trump were in December and they spoke twice.
The first time they discussed the “situation in crisis areas with an emphasis on resolving the problem on the Korean peninsula.” On the second occasion, Putin thanked Trump and the CIA for information that helped to detain the terrorist who planted explosions in St. Petersburg.
Peskov assumed that the relations between Putin and Trump “could be even better” if not for the domestic political situation in the United States. He added, “Obviously, the internal situation [in the US] is negative for our country.” According to Peskov, better relations between Putin and Trump are possible in the second half of 2018.
Peskov said that, “The president of the Russian Federation will have the opportunity to talk with the US president on the sidelines of upcoming international all-round events but not in the near future. This is probably not a short-term prospect.”