Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Interfax on Wednesday that the fact that the United States House of Representatives voted in favor of new sanctions against Moscow "leaves no possibility" for the improvement of the relations between the two countries.
Ryabkov added that Russia is "working on assumption" that the sanctions bill will pass the US Senate as well. He insisted Moscow is "not refusing" to discuss restoring better relations with Washington, but claimed it will "look for acceptable forms and models of interaction" as a result of the new embargo.
Meanwhile, Leonid Slutsky, who heads the foreign relations committee in the State Duma, stated the new US sanctions "undermine the possibility of restoring the Russian-US ties and will complicate them even further in the foreseeable future."
