Russia is grateful to the United States for the assistance on COVID-19 response, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd May, 2020) Russia is grateful to the United States for the assistance on COVID-19 response, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday.
"Yesterday, we received the first batch, which included 50 artificial lung ventilators, from the US. We believe such gestures are absolutely natural, they are of a purely humanitarian nature. We are grateful to the US side for the assistance it provides at this stage," Ryabkov said at online talks organized by the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Foundation.
Next week, Russia is expected to receive 150 more artificial lung ventilators from the US.
The countries maintain intense dialogue, the deputy foreign minister said, recalling that Russian President Vladimir Putin had held six phone conversations with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, since the end of March. Over the same period of time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has held four conversations with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and dialogue between embassies continues as well, according to Ryabkov.
Although sanctions make relations between the two countries more complicated, Russia will never ask the US to ease the restrictions, Ryabkov reaffirmed.
