Finding a way out of a “total freeze” in bilateral contacts will take time, Dmitry Peskov has said FILE PHOTO. © Global Look Press / Wu Xiaoling A full-fledged revival of bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington will take time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. The amount of damage the ties have sustained prevents this process from being quick, he told TASS on Friday. Moscow and Washington maintain communication at various levels, Peskov confirmed, adding that “dialogue channels do exist.” It has not led to a “complex revival” of bilateral relations, he added. Contact between the two nations, which was almost non-existent for three years under the Biden administration, resumed after US President Donald Trump returned to office in January. He took a markedly different approach toward Russia by reopening high-level diplomatic channels with Moscow. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have since repeatedly spoken by phone, and also met in person in Alaska last month. Read more “The process of finding a way out… of such a total freeze will take time,” Peskov said when asked about the prospects of normalization. “Too much damage has been dealt to the whole architecture of bilateral relations.” Both Putin and Trump have called the state of US-Russia relations under Joe Biden the “lowest point” since the Cold War. Last month, the Russian president said that with Trump’s arrival in the White House, “a light at the end of the tunnel” appeared. He added that Moscow is seeking a reset in relations. Russia has never turned its back on the US, and is open to economic cooperation that could benefit American companies, Putin told journalists on Friday. Trump has argued that expanding economic cooperation with Russia would be in America’s best interest, but the Ukraine conflict stands in the way of normalizing ties. Putin has expressed hope that joint work with the US will continue, but stressed that progress does not depend on Moscow alone, adding that Washington also needs to take steps.
