U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced on June 20 that Washington was preparing another package of anti-Russian sanctions over Alexey Navalny and against Russian companies participating in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia underneath the Baltic Sea to Europe.
Sullivan’s announcement happened on the same day as Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov arrived to resume his post in Washington, after having been recalled for consultations to Moscow on March 20. Sullivan’s remarks drew a sharp response from the ambassador. “This is not a signal we all expected after the summit,” Antonov stressed. “I don’t think it is possible to stabilize and normalize relations between countries by means of sanctions. The current task is to normalize dialogue. First of all, we need to restore wrecked dialogue mechanisms. It is sad that our American colleagues are opting for a path that will not lead us to a positive result our presidents were oriented to.”
Antonov continued: “The task is to simply work and implement the positive words that were pronounced by the presidents. Russian diplomats, who are working here, are ready to improve Russian-U.S. relations.” A few hours earlier, he took a commercial Aeroflot flight to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, where he was met by Russian diplomats.
