Russia shares US President Donald Trump’s intention of establishing normal Russia-US dialogue, but Moscow will judge whether the US’ interest is real based on practical steps, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

“We have repeatedly stated that we positively assess President Donald Trump’s words on his desire to establish normal dialogue between our countries, Lavrov told the Panorama magazine in an interview, adding that “we will only judge the real interest of our partners in constructive … cooperation by their practical steps.”

“Even if there is some positive input from the president, it is fully canceled out by the off-the-charts Russophobia in the US establishment where our country is portrayed as a threat,” Lavrov said.

The top Russian diplomat added that such situation had been caused by an “internal struggle” in Washington and had nothing to do with reality.

The minister recalled that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken by phone in March.

“[Trump] proposed to hold a high-level meeting very soon, he invited [Putin] to the White House, he spoke about his desire to establish coordinated efforts on the international arena, to jointly curb the arms race,” Lavrov added.

The Russian diplomat added that Moscow would like to have friendly ties with Washington but without sacrificing its national interests.

“While many people in Washington continue to ‘plunge into’ a self-replicating Russophobia, cooperation on important issues on the global agenda stalls. This has a negative impact on the situation in the world, where there are a lot of issues that cannot be settled without Russia-US cooperation,” the minister added.

Source: Sputnik