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Sergey Kislyak served the Russian Federation's ambassador to the United States since 2008.

(Dana Afana | dafana@mlive.com)

DETROIT -- A Russian diplomat says it will take a lot of time to rebuild relations between the U.S. and its former Cold War foe.

"Our relations are so fragile," Sergey Kislyak, ambassador of the Russian Federation to the U.S., said Thursday in a Detroit Economic Club speech at the Westin Book Cadillac. "Some trust has been lost between the two countries.

" ... The presumptions here in the United States of Russia are very negative. The percentage of those who like Russia has not increased recently and the United States isn't liked in Russia by so many people."

Kislyak has served as the U.S. ambassador for Russia since 2008 and was previously Russia's deputy minister of foreign affairs.

With the U.S. presidential election approaching, Kislyak said Russia is ready to work with whomever is elected to rebuild ties, given the current relationship is "deplorable" and at the lowest point since the Cold War.

"If there's a will you can start anywhere," he said.

Kislyak said the focus needs to be put on things that matter for the U.S. and Russia, with emphasis on the regional crises being issues important to both states.

He touched on war and crisis in Syria as a difficult issue in which the U.S. and Russia were successfully able to collaborate on eliminating chemical weapons, for example.

"We proposed and (the U.S) picked up the idea of withdrawing weapons from Syria, and we did it," he said. "We did it in a very difficult circumstance of ongoing war. To me it's just another reminder that if you're gonna agree on doing something, we can reinforce each other."

But Kislyak said the two nations need to focus on things of immediate importance that have significant impacts on U.S. and Russian interests, such as expanding economic ties.

"(It's) not only to give people a chance to make additional buck, but just because we do not have well-developed issues of relations between our own people of your country and ours," Kislyak said.

Kislyak also addressed ISIS, which has been at the center of foreign policy debate during the latest U.S. elections. ISIS, which has been designated a terror organization by the United Nations, is not a kind of legal or reasonable opposition, but a threat toward the U.S., Russia and the world, he said, saying the group should be eliminated.

"ISIL is about building a holy caliphate that is supposed to dominate the world and the rest of the future," Kislyak said. "It's not a new phenomenon but it's newly powerful, and it has to be dealt with by force."

On the topic of whistleblower Edward Snowden's release of classified National Security Agency documents, Kislyak emphasized that his act is for Americans to decide, and that for Russians he has only one dimension.

After Snowden left Hong Kong, his passport was revoked and he landed and settled in Russia.

"We didn't invite him, he hasn't violated a single Russian law, we do not have an agreement with the (U.S) on extradition," he said, adding Russia proposed to extradite Snowden several times but there was no legal reason to.

"I believe true moments where we prove to each other that when we work together, we succeed," he said.