The US administration of outgoing President Joe Biden has caused significant harm to American-Russian relations, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview, excerpts of which were published on journalist Pavel Sarubin’s Telegram channel.
“The damage is enormous. Now, the Trump administration did significant harm in its first term, especially because of the legacy left by Obama, which Trump and his team inherited. And the sanctions imposed by Obama, in general, are dishonorable and unethical. By expelling our diplomats and stealing five diplomatic facilities, they put our relations in a state where they didn’t have the best start. Now, the Biden administration is trying to do the same” Lavrov said.
Lavrov also commented on Biden’s statements, in which the US President attempted to compare himself to Russian President Vladimir Putin while summarizing the results of his administration, and emphasized that it was not Putin but Biden who had traveled to Kiev. Lavrov noted: “If a politician of such a high level as the President of the United States evaluates his own term in office based on theatrical effects: ‘I was in Kiev, and Putin was not’ – then one might conclude how seriously he takes the fulfillment of his duties.”
Donald Trump’s inauguration is set to take place on January 20, and he will become the 47th President of the United States, returning to the White House after four years of the Biden administration.
Earlier, the Kremlin had stated that it did not expect the new US administration to change its stance on sanctions policy in Moscow.