US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman on Thursday expressed his disappointment over the current state of Moscow-Washington relations, stressing the importance of bringing the ties to the level the two countries used to have.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th December, 2018) US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman on Thursday expressed his disappointment over the current state of Moscow-Washington relations, stressing the importance of bringing the ties to the level the two countries used to have."Right now we are at a moment in time in our bilateral relationships, where we need to build back up to what we used to have, and not collapse it backward into something that isn't representative of my country, nor it is representative of yours," Huntsman said in a video message published on the US Embassy to Russia Facebook page.
According to Huntsman, there used to 36 American centers in 30 Russian cities, but now the number has decreased to one.
"It's an example of a relationship that is moving in the wrong direction, not the right direction," Huntsman said, citing closure of an US consulate as an example.
Several EU countries, the United States, Canada, Norway, Ukraine and other countries decided to expel Russian diplomats after the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK city of Salisbury. The United Kingdom accuses Russian authorities in the poisoning, Moscow denies it.
In March, US expelled 60 Russian diplomats, including 12 UN employees, and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle. It was the biggest diplomat expulsion between the two countries.
In response, Russia named 58 employees of the US embassy in Moscow and two employees of the US consulate in Yekaterinburg persona non grata, and expelled them from the country.
