US & Russia not enemies despite existing disagreements – Russian ambassador

The United States and Russia are not enemies and cannot afford to stop talking to one another, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov has said. Speaking on Russia-US relations during a video conference organized by the Washington-based Center for the National Interest on Wednesday, he said: “There is an ongoing debate on who is more at fault for their current deplorable state.”

“There are contrasting views on who should take the first step towards the other side,” the diplomat noted. Currently, this process “resembles walking in a circle without any clear perspective of finding common ground,” he said.

“On many occasions, I had to persuade the American public that Russia and the US are not enemies. And that we cannot afford the luxury of not talking to each other, despite all the existing disagreements,” TASS quoted Antonov as saying.

For objective reasons, “the well-being of the whole planet depends on the quality of Russia-US relations,” he added.