Alwaght- Russia is preparing a "tough response" to latest US provocative measures especially the closure of Moscow's consulate in San Francisco.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that Kremlin "will have a tough response to the things that come totally out of the blue to hurt us and are driven solely by the desire to spoil our relations with the United States."
Speaking at a Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Lavrov “defended Russia's decision to cut US diplomatic staff as reciprocal reaction to the US expelling Russian diplomats last December.”
Lavrov reiterated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stance on relations with America, saying that Russia “does not seek any quarrel,” but has been always “friendly to the American people, and is open to constructive cooperation where it meets Russian interests.” He added that Moscow wants to normalize the bilateral political atmosphere.
“Generally, we will continue to promote a positive agenda, mutually respectful approaches, we will seek and find compromises,” Lavrov told the students.
According to Lavrov, Moscow will not leave the decision to close the Russian Consulate unaddressed.
“We received a detailed [diplomatic] note just last night, we are dealing with it and we will respond as soon as we finish this analysis,” the foreign minister said.
The recent sanctions against Russia imposed by the US in the beginning of the month were designed to undermine the Trump administration, according to the foreign minister, as Trump himself wants to normalize relations.
“[After the meeting of the Russian and US presidents] it has become clearer that President Trump is interested in normalization of relations with Russia, as he repeatedly stated after the meeting and most recently,” Lavrov said, adding that Russia will retaliate against any actions that do damage to Russia.
The US State Department has announced that Russia must close a consulate in San Francisco and reduce its consular presence in Washington and New York, in a move widely seen as a further escalation in the already tense relations between the two nuclear powers.
