The United States and Russia must maintain an open dialogue and understand each other, US Sen. Mike Lee said on Friday at a meeting with the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian parliament's upper house, Konstantin Kosachev
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th September, 2019) The United States and Russia must maintain an open dialogue and understand each other, US Sen. Mike Lee said on Friday at a meeting with the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian parliament's upper house, Konstantin Kosachev."Although our systems of government are different although our governments made different policy choices, I think it is important for us to maintain an open dialogue and we understand each other," Lee said.
For the past three years, there has been a certain concern among US politicians of both major parties regarding relations with Russia, but there are definitely ways to discuss this issue, the senator noted.
"I'd love to work with you and learn more about what we can do to these relationships," Lee told Kosachev.
Lee stated that both he and his Russian colleague remembered the times of the Cold War.
"During that time our countries were divided by a lot more. We are better off in so far as we can cooperate, we both benefit from open relationship," he said.
Russia backs maintaining inter-parliamentary dialogue with the United States amid any, even the most difficult bilateral relations, and calls for lifting sanctions from parliamentarians, Kosachev said.
He noted that now the contacts between the two countries' parliaments have recently been limited and rare.
"This is not our choice, we initially did not agree with the political sanctions that the United States extended to parliamentarians," he said.
At the same time, Kosachev added that both he and his first deputy in the committee, Vladimir Dzhabarov, who was present at the meeting, were under US sanctions.
Kosachev emphasized that Russia's recent decision to deny two US senators' entry to Russia were reciprocal and would be canceled as soon as the US side cancels its sanctions on Russian parliamentarians.
US Ambassador Jon Huntsman and representatives of the US diplomatic mission were present at the meeting. Anticipating the meeting, Lee noted that, unlike him, his wife has traveled to Russia before, since she studied at the University of Novosibirsk and has previously visited Moscow. Today, she, along with Huntsman's wife, is visiting the Russian capital's sights.
Lee, who is a Republican, is a senator from Utah, which had Huntsman as a former governor.
