Moscow hopes for restoration of relations with U.S. - Lavrov

ULAANBAATAR, April 14. /TASS/. Moscow hopes for restoration to earlier level of relations with Washington and states it is not interested in confrontation with the U.S., NATO, or EU, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday. "Russia does not seek confrontation with the U.S., nor with NATO or the European Union, and it has never initiated a confrontation of the kind," he said in a lecture at the Mongolian foreign ministry. "Clearly, the confrontation only affects the efforts on restoring the optimal trend in the global development." "We hope the Russian-U.S. relations will return to the normal trajectory," he said. "This may be done only on the basis of mutual respect and balance of interests." "Russia and the U.S. today continue rather active cooperation," Lavrov said. "As co-chairs of the International Group of Syria Support we have managed to agree a roadmap for the settlement, managed to expand the humanitarian access to the people there, who need it, and have provided for beginning of a political process." "Currently, Moscow and Washington continue an active dialogue on these and other issues," he said. Read more