Russian envoy not optimistic about US ties

Moscow, April 1 : Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said that he is not anticipating "bright prospects" for Moscow-Washington relations.

The bilateral ties are in the midst of a deep crisis, which has grown partly due to the reluctance of the US President Joe Bidens administration to solve problems with Moscow, Antonov said while addressing a joint meeting of the international and defence committees of the Federation Council, upper house of Parliament, on Wednesday.

Washington is destroying the foundations of Russia-US interactions as the incumbent administration has continued to "unwind the sanctions spiral under false pretexts", he told lawmakers.The diplomat believes that Washington will not change its stance substantially and the "systemic containment" of Russia will remain a priority.

"For several years, Russia has actively attempted to improve bilateral ties, to establish equal, mutually respectful, pragmatic dialogue.However, we havent managed to change the trajectory of Russia-US relations," Antonov said.

At the same time, despite existing contradictions, the ambassador still considers it possible to determine areas of cooperation with the US.The Ambassador returned to Moscow on March 22 after he was recalled following Bidens remarks on March 17 that Russia will "pay a price" for its alleged interference in the 2020 American election.A US intelligence report released the previous day directly accused Putin of ordering a wide-ranging influence operation to interfere in the election, intending to hurt Bidens campaign.

In the ABC News interview, Biden also agreed with the interviewers claim that Putin was "a killer".