MOSCOW – U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman has said he believes that Washington and Moscow ought to begin working from the start of this year to resolve problems that prompted the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions.
“And on the sanctions question, we should be working to resolve sanctions. We should be taking the relationship in a way that creates an environment that is free and clear of sanctions. We should not expect to live in a world forever that is a sanctioned relationship,” Huntsman said in an interview with Interfax.
“But from here on, in 2018, we should work toward resolving the issues that underlie the sanctions. We should not engage in a war of words on sanctions,” he said.
“And we should roll up our sleeves and begin working on issues like Ukraine and resolve some of the issues that have created the environment where we have some sanctions. That’s what I hope we find possible in 2018,” he said.
When commenting on remarks made by some Russian officials, including business people, about the new U.S. sanctions, the ambassador said: “I don’t see any new sanctions. What I see is a report that is being transmitted to Congress that is consistent with what the legislation called for back in August [the August 2, 2017 Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which includes increased sanctions against Russia, North Korea and Iran].”
“It’s also important to note that we have to build trust in our relationship and the only way we are going to do that is by working together on issues like Syria and arms control and Ukraine and other bilateral issues where we can show signs of progress, where people in Russia and people in America will say, “I knew that they could work together and succeed and achieve something.” Yes, we are going to have problems. Yes, some of those issues are going to be unresolvable. But no one says we have to resolve all of our issues. But we do have to make some progress,” he said.
The “Kremlin dossier”, scheduled to be released on January 29, is expected to consist of several parts and include a list of tycoons close to the Russian leadership, measures against Russia’s special services, army and defense industry, and also measures against Russia’s financial sector and sovereign bonds.
