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Russia’s relationship with U.S. at its ‘lowest historical point,’ Kremlin says
Niamh Cavanagh, Reporter – January 20, 2023
LONDON — The Kremlin said Friday that Russia’s relationship with the U.S. is at an all-time low.
Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that despite timid hopes from the Geneva summit in 2021, bilateral relations were “at their lowest historical point.” He added, “There is no hope for improvement in the foreseeable future.”
The comments follow months of what has come to be a total breakdown in relations between the two powers. Relations went from bad to worse when after conducting several military drills along Ukraine’s border, Russia’s forces launched what it called a “special military operation” on Feb. 24, 2022. The invasion was met with immediate and harsh sanctions from the U.S. as well as Ukraine’s Western allies.
All hopes for any progress in relations were slashed when the Biden administration threw its full support behind Russia’s neighboring countries Finland and Sweden in joining NATO.
This, according to reports, meant the U.S. would be going against its agreement with Russia in 1991 that NATO would not expand past East Germany. This part of the agreement has been hotly contested, as there had been no legal binding between the two nations that would prohibit countries in Eastern Europe from joining the military alliance.
Over the past 11 months, the Biden administration has made several announcements that the U.S. would be providing Ukraine with billions of dollars in military aid and assistance. With Russia’s recent onslaught of airstrikes on Ukraine, the U.S. and other allies have announced plans to provide the beleaguered nation’s military with more weapons.
On Friday, Peskov told reporters that the wave of assistance from the West would be met with consequences.
“We see a growing indirect and sometimes direct involvement of NATO countries in this conflict,” he said. “We see a devotion to the dramatic delusion that Ukraine can succeed on the battlefield. This is a dramatic delusion of the Western community that will more than once be cause for regret, we are sure of that.”
His remarks came as Western defense ministers gathered at an air base in Germany to discuss supplying further military assistance to Ukraine.