The Kremlin, just as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, does not like the term "reset" with regard to relations between Moscow and Washington. However, the Russian presidential administration hopes that good mutually advantageous relations with the U.S. will be restored.
"As for a ‘reset’ in relations, perhaps, we can agree with the president-elect. This word has indeed discredited itself, as the effects of this ‘reset’ are not the ones we would like to see," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Nov. 23.
According to Peskov, "the term is of little importance in this case."
"The most important thing is the desire and demonstration of willingness to normalize relations," the Kremlin spokesman said.
Trump’s opinion
Trump said in an interview with the New York Times that he favors the normalization of relations between Washington and Moscow but does not want to use the term "reset" for this policy. The president-elect noted that it would be "nice" if he and Vladimir Putin could get along. However, he rejected the idea to call any warming of relations between Russia and the U.S. a "reset."
"I wouldn’t use that term after what happened," Trump said.
Russia ready for dialogue
The Russian presidential administration admits that the normalization of relations with the U.S. will not proceed easily and will take some time.
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"Now we know that the level of our bilateral relations leaves a lot to be desired, they could hardly be worse, they have reached the bottom," Peskov said describing the Russian-U.S. relations."Of course, we hope the dialogue will resume, and the process of putting relations on a constructive track will begin, even though this process will be difficult and will take some time," Peskov said.
He recalled remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin who said on numerous occasions that Moscow is ready to build good mutually beneficial relations with the U.S. Peskov stressed that the Russian leader "counts on reciprocity on the part of Washington."
Telephone conversation
The Kremlin spokesman declined to disclose the details of a telephone conversation between Putin and Trump on Nov. 14, saying that he has nothing to add.
Reporters asked Peskov to clarify how the telephone conversation was proceeding citing the fact that Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, took part in his phone conversation with the Argentine president. "The Russian president and the U.S. president-elect had a one-on-one conversation," Peskov noted.
"I don’t know whether there was someone else present alongside Trump, but no one else took part in the conversation," he added.
Source: Tass.com