LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) – Russia should not close the US embassy despite the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, because the world’s two largest nuclear powers must continue to talk, the US ambassador to Moscow was quoted as saying on Monday. Reuters.
President Vladimir Putin described the invasion of Ukraine as a turning point in Russian history: a revolt against the hegemony of the United States, which the Kremlin chief said had humiliated Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Ukraine – and its Western supporters – say they are fighting for survival against a reckless seizure of imperial-style land that killed thousands, displaced more than 10 million people and reduced the country’s territory to desolation.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I’m registering
In a clear attempt to send a message to the Kremlin, John J. Sullivan, the US ambassador appointed by President Donald Trump, told Russia’s TASS news agency that Washington and Moscow should not simply sever diplomatic relations.
“We need to keep the ability to talk to each other,” Sullivan said in an interview with TASS. He warned against removing Leo Tolstoy’s works from Western book shelves or refusing to play Tchaikovsky’s music.
His remarks were reported by TASS in Russian and translated into English by Reuters.
Despite crises, spy scandals, and the brink of the Cold War, relations between Moscow and Washington have not been severed since the United States established ties with the Soviet Union in 1933.
But now Russia says its post-Soviet flirtation with the West is over and it will turn east.
Last month, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken joked that he would like to dedicate Taylor Swift’s “We Will Never Come Back Together” to Putin.
Asked about this remark, Sullivan said: “We, too, will never be completely separated.”
Asked by TASS whether the analogy meant that embassies could be closed, Sullivan said: “They can – there is such a possibility, although I think it would be a big mistake.
“As far as I understand, the Russian government mentioned the option of severing diplomatic relations,” he said. “We can’t just cut off diplomatic relations and stop talking to each other.
Russia’s foreign ministry has called on the heads of US media bureaus in Moscow on Monday to discuss the consequences of hostile actions by the United States, he said.
Queen Catherine the Great’s refusal to support the British Empire when America declared independence laid the groundwork for the first diplomatic contacts between the United States and St. Petersburg, then Russia’s imperial capital.
After the Bolshevik revolution in October 1917, President Woodrow Wilson refused to recognize the revolutionary government of Vladimir Lenin and the American embassy was closed in 1919. Relations were not restored until 1933.
“The only reason I can remember that the United States may be forced to close its embassy is if it becomes dangerous to continue its work,” Sullivan said.
Asked how the relationship would develop, Sullivan, a 62-year-old lawyer, said he did not know, but added that he hoped for a rapprochement one day.
“If I had to make a bet, I’d say he might not live.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I’m registering
Report by Guy Falkonbridge; edited by Philippa Fletcher
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.
Add Comment