Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has lashed out at U.S. media coverage of minister Sergey Lavrov's visit and said Moscow is expecting Washington to "unblock" ties soon.
Ministry spokeswoman criticized U.S. journalists over questions they asked during Lavrov's press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump. She told Russian news site Vesti, "The American press cared only about two questions—the dismissal of the FBI's director, how it affected the talks and how Sergey Lavrov thinks about this staff decision."
Zakharova also spoke about the previous U.S. administration's decision to expel 35 Russian diplomats in late 2016 after 17 U.S. intelligence agencies alleged Russian pro-government hackers were behind cyber attacks on the U.S. political establishment during last year's presidential election. Barack Obama made the decision in the closing weeks of his presidency. Although Lavrov called on the Kremlin to respond with a parallel decision, Moscow ultimately only gave a rhetorical response.
The spokeswoman claimed Obama had "done the dirty for Trump," by making his dialogue with Moscow start at a low point.
"Then the question is, how do we exit from this situation?" she said. She said she believed the U.S. was making moves to improve relations, referring specifically to the expulsion of the diplomats. "The American partners said that in the near future [they] will prepare their proposals about how to begin concrete work on unblocking this situation," Zakharova said.
"For Russian diplomats any free travel around the U.S. is practically blocked now," she said. "In order to go anywhere you have to fill out paperwork, ask for permission and it is not a given that you will get it."
Although Zakharova blamed the Obama administration for current Russian-U.S. ties, increased surveillance of Russian diplomatic travels in the U.S. are a policy endorsed by U.S. Congress as recently as last month.
U.S. lawmakers approved a spending bill that included the provisions, after which Russian senators called on Moscow to respond, perhaps with reciprocal action. The Russian government has not yet made any such move.
Uncommon Knowledge
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