SALT LAKE CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2018) The US media has badly misrepresented Russia's foreign policy and tried to muddy its political image, but Russia and the United States are not and have never been enemies, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said at a meeting with the business community of the US state of Utah on Tuesday.
"Russian-American relations are in a state of deep crisis. There is a lot of fake news surrounding them. The political image of my country and its foreign policy is severely distorted. The media portrays Russians as enemies," Antonov said.
The Russian ambassador said he strongly disagrees with such narrative because "We are not enemies and we never were."
Antonov went on to say that Russia has been supporting the United Stated from the country's very foundation.
"We declined British and French proposals to oppose the 13 rebel British colonies on the East Coast of America. Our country openly supported Abraham Lincoln during the US Civil War," Antonov said. "Emperor Alexander II and Abraham Lincoln called each other 'good friends.' Is it really imaginable to forget how our fathers and grandfathers fought side by side against Nazism and spilled their blood during World War II?"
In addition, Antonov noted that each year on April 25 the two nations commemorate the historic meeting between the Soviet and US troops on the Elbe River in 1945.
"This historic moment is one of the most powerful symbols of our brotherhood-in-arms," Antonov said. "These few, yet remarkable examples show how close the Russian and American people really are, the resemblance of our fates, but most importantly - the great benefits we can provide for our countries and the entire world when we work together, jointly protecting Russia and the United States from security challenges and threats."
Relations between the United States and Russia worsened following their disagreement over the crisis in Ukraine. The United States imposed several round of sanctions against Russia after Crimea held a referendum in 2014 in which a vast majority of residents decided to reunify with Russia. Washington also accused Moscow of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and has imposed additional rounds of sanctions. Russia has repeatedly denied the allegations.
