Russian Parliamentary delegation member Vyacheslav Nikonov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, called the meeting between Russian and U.S. lawmakers on March 26 in Washington, D.C., an “historic event.” Speaking on March 27, as TASS reported he told reporters:
“The State Duma delegation is about to conclude its visit to the United States, which took place at the invitation of U.S. Congress members. The visit can be considered historic.”
Another parliamentarian member of the delegation, economist Mikhail Delyagin, pointed out that lifting of sanctions and the early granting of visas to the travelling members was significant. “The temporary withdrawal of members of the Russian delegation from sanctions for this visit and the issuance of visas not at the last moment (which has been the norm for official visits since the Soviet times), but in advance, is a sign not only of the high influence of Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna and her team, and not only of the impressive skills of the Russian Foreign Ministry, but also of a high interest of a significant part of the U.S. executive branch, including the State Department, in normalizing relations,” he wrote on Telegram.
According to the Deputy, the intent of the Deputies was, among other things, to show that “American sanctions against Russia harm not so much Russia as the United States itself, as they take away their strategic development space” and transfer it to competitors. “This, in my opinion, was fully understood,” reports TASS.