The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister noted that Moscow observes a declining readiness on the part of the U.S. to cooperate.

The relations of Moscow and Washington entered a period comparable to the Cold War. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Ryabkov made the announcement on December 5, 2017 at a meeting of Russia’s Public Council on the International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy discussing the prospects in Russian-American relations.

“We entered a period which, in many respects, is comparable to the Cold War, the diplomat said. Anti-Russian sentiment was consciously cultivated in the United States, especially in the media.”

“It literally is like a tsunami that covered the U.S., and we should understand that these moods run deep in the American society,” the deputy minister said. “All public opinion polls give roughly similar estimates in this regard, although, strictly speaking, not so many surveys were actually conducted.”

According to Deputy Minister Ryabkov, the Washington elite harbors negative sentiments toward Moscow, which have become more pronounced in recent years. The diplomat believes that the extent of rejection of Russia and Russia’s policy has no precedent in the history of the United States.

“This is a very disturbing development, and it is unclear how much time will have to pass before things begin to change for the better,” he added.

According to the diplomat, U.S. authorities openly admit that elements of the U.S. missile system are directed against Russia.

“We recognize that it is necessary to take all factors exerting an impact on the strategic stability into account. One of the most complex problems is the expansion of the global U.S. missile defense system,” Ryabkov noted. The diplomat went on to say that “earlier, while Washington claimed that the system is directed to counter the threats from Iran and the DPRK, the U.S. now openly recognizes that the main goal of missile defense is Russia and its nuclear potential.”

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister recalled that the Pentagon deployed elements of its missile defense system on in Romania. “By next year, the U.S. plans to put in Poland launchers whose land-based installation is prohibited under the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF), since they are capable of launching not only interceptors, but also shock tomahawks,” Ryabkov stated.

According to the Russian official, there are serious questions that the U.S. must answer on the development of strategic offensive arms of the non-nuclear variety within the global strike concept and also in connection with the danger of placing weapons in space.

Washington’s unpredictable steps heighten tensions on the Korean peninsula, the diplomat added. “There are elements of unpredictability in U.S. policy today, and we observe a tendency to take sudden steps,” he said. “We see this on the Korean peninsula, where the situation is balancing on the brink [of war].”

According to Ryabkov,” Washington’s offensive rhetoric against Pyongyang and the constant U.S.-South Korean military exercises only fuel tension.”

“All parties should refrain from provocative steps and try to establish a meaningful dialogue,” the senior diplomat said.

Sergei Ryabkov paid special attention to the disagreements between the Russian Federation and the United States on mass media issues. According to the diplomat, the United States launched a harassment of Russian media. The officials added that retaliation against the American press in Russia is inevitable.

“[The anti-Russian campaign] went so far that in the country that positioned itself as the main champion of democracy around the world, the officials launched a barrage of harassment against the Russian media.” In November, the media outlets RT and Sputnik News were classified as foreign agents, and their correspondents were deprived of accreditation at the U.S. Congress,” the diplomat said. “It is clear that in such circumstances, there are inevitable reciprocal measures against the American media in Russia. Russian laws have been amended to require foreign agent registration for such propagandist media outlets as the Voice America, Radio Liberty and channel Now.

In addition, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister said that Moscow’s proposal for cooperation on cybersecurity “is drowning in the Washington apparatus.”

“We have never avoided a professional discussion on this topic,” he said,” on the contrary, Russia has proposed since 2015 to establish bilateral cooperation in combating crimes in cyberspace or at least to hold a meeting of profile experts.”

“The previous U.S. administration was simply brushing this initiative aside, and even now this proposal is drowning in the American apparatus,” the high ranking Foreign Ministry official said. “This is despite the fact that during the Group of 20 meeting at Hamburg the presidents of Russia and the United States found a common understanding on the need to create a mechanism for discussing the entire range of issues of cybersecurity.”

According to Ryabkov, Moscow expects that the U.S. will make new unfriendly gestures toward Russia as the Russian presidential elections come nearer. “With the presidential elections in Russia approaching, the U.S. will initiate new destructive impulses, the scope and the depth of which we have yet to assess,” the diplomat said.

Ryabkov added that Russia took note of a sharp decline in interest on the part of the U.S. in working on international platforms.

“There is a sharp decline in the readiness of our American colleagues to work in multilateral formats, primarily in searching for compromises, in working on drafts of documents that are being developed in the U.N. Security Council, in the G20 formats, and in the specialized agencies of U.N., be it the OPCW, or the IAEA,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said.

“The skill of collaborating over the text of documents is disappearing on the American side; more and more, we are confronted with situations where we, and others, are faced with the choice: you either take what you are given, or you don’t get anything at all,” Ryabkov continued.

According to the diplomat, this shows not only the U.S. desire to “dictate its political will to other members of the international community,” but also it reflects “a reduction in the level of professionalism of the American foreign policy school.”

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister urged the U.S. to address the claims on the implementation of Minsk agreements not to Moscow, but to Kiev.

“In Ukraine, the Trump Administration acts in line with the momentum that by Barack Obama set in motion. The U.S. does not take into account the reality that these claims should not be addressed to Russia, but to Kiev, which openly sabotages the Minsk agreements,” he said.

According to Ryabkov, “the possibility of America’s supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine, as well as the presence of U.S. military instructors in the country, fuel the revanchist mood of the Ukrainian war party.”

The diplomat emphasized that in Russia’s relations with the United States there are no clear rules of the game recognized by both sides. The official said that Russia has repeatedly expressed its readiness to do its part to take the relationship out of its “deplorable state.” However, the relations have not improved in nearly a year since Donald Trump’s taking office.

“One of the unique features of this period in our relations with the United States is the lack of intelligible rules of the game that would be recognized by both sides and the lack of an algorithm that could be used to manage crises,” the diplomat said.

Ryabkov also voiced the concern of stopping the degradation in the bilateral relationship. “To some extent we are responsible [for the degradation of bilateral relations] in recent times,” the deputy minister acknowledged. “I consider myself [responsible].”

Ryabkov added that Moscow is not afraid of Washington’s sanctions, and no discussion for canceling sanctions is presently on the bilateral agenda. “We believe that in some respects the pressure of the sanctions allowed Russia to stimulate its internal development,” the diplomat said.

At the same time, he noted that “there are spheres and directions where the consequences of sanctions are felt in a negative way.”

The diplomat summed up that Moscow was ready to work on taking the Russian-American relationship out of the protracted state of impasse, in which it has remained for several years. “We are ready to work on elevating our relations from the present state of impasse, which was artificially created,” the diplomat pointed out. “Much depends on the attitude of the American side.”

According to the high-ranking Foreign Ministry representative, the two countries have a common history and long-standing mutual interests. “This, we hope, is a fairly stable basis for building more productive relations in the spirit of cooperation and respect for each other,” Ryabkov said. “There is reason for some optimism. I hope that there will be an opportunity to overcome today’s difficulties.”