Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov Says US Must Take First Steps To Improve Relations With Russia

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. (Twitter/@mfa_russia)

JAKARTA - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday the United States should take the first step towards improving relations with Russia, after years of failing to listen to the Kremlin and the wrong-way policies intended to lead to "strategic defeats" in Moscow.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov also said it was wrong to base foreign policy on the need to "reach agreement with the White House in any way."

In comments on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website, Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov said the Kremlin had long sought to become a Western partner, "but no one listened or, in theory, wanted to listen.

"And that's because the main goal is to maximize geopolitical rivals," he said.

Russia, he said, had regained its "legitimate place in world geopoliticals by thwarting Joe Biden's administration's plans to cause a "strategic defeat" in Moscow in a hybrid war 'up to the last Ukraine.'"

"With this failed policy background and with the change of government, it is the United States that must take the first step in normalizing relations on the basis of mutual respect and equal rights," Ryabkov wrote.

It is known that relations between Russia and the United States have fallen to an invisible low in decades due to the Moscow invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

But since Donald Trump's election and inauguration, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has described the US president as intelligent and pragmatic and said he wants to meet him soon.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov said Russia was "open to dialogue and ready to reach an agreement through strong bargaining while considering reality on the pitch. So, it's up to D. Trump and his team to make a decision."