MOSCOW - Moscow called on Sunday for
a new "reset 2.0" in relations with Washington, saying the situation in
Ukraine that had led to Western sanctions against Russia was improving
thanks to Kremlin peace initiatives. Washington and Brussels accuse
Moscow of supporting a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine. The
conflict has brought relations between Moscow and the West to their
lowest level since the end of the Cold War.
In a television
interview, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was time to
repeat the "reset," Washington's name for an attempt to improve ties
early in Obama's presidency. "We are absolutely interested in bringing
the ties to normal but it was not us who destroyed them. Now they
require what the Americans would probably call a 'reset'," Lavrov said,
according to a transcript of the interview on his ministry's website.
"The current U.S. administration is destroying today much of the
cooperation structure that it created itself along with us. Most likely,
something more will come up - a reset No. 2 or a reset 2.0," he said.
Shortly after Obama took office, then Secretary of State Hilary Clinton
gave Lavrov a red "reset" button intended to signal a fresh start to
relations - the button accidentally bore a Russian label that said
"overload" instead of "reset."
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