Russian Ambassador to U.S. Antonov Summoned Back to Moscow for ‘Consultations’

March 17 , 2021 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced today that Russia’s Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov “has been summoned to Moscow for consultations in order to analyze what needs to be done in the context of relations with the United States.”

Zakharova emphasized in her short statement that Russia’s concern is to discuss what Russia might do to prevent U.S.-Russian relations, already in a blind alley for some time, from “irreversibly” deteriorating:

“The new U.S. administration took office about two months ago and the symbolic 100-day mark is not too far away, which is a good occasion for trying to appraise what Joe Biden’s team has managed to do and where it was not very successful. The most important thing for us is to identify ways of rectifying Russia-U.S. relations, which have been going through hard times as Washington has, as a matter of fact, brought them to a blind alley. We are interested in preventing an irreversible deterioration in relations, if the Americans become aware of the risks associated with this.

“This is what we will talk about during the consultations that the Foreign Ministry and other relevant agencies will hold with the Russian Ambassador to the United States.”

Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had responded sharply to the “absolutely unfounded” charges that Russia, under orders of President Putin personally, had interfered in U.S. 2020 election on behalf of Donald Trump, as claimed in the U.S. Intelligence Community’s bogus “assessment” of foreign interference in those elections issued on March 16. The report provides “no proof,” but is based on files “far from being of high quality ... most likely, as an excuse to put the issue of new sanctions against our country on the agenda,” Peskov charged.

“This line is harming the already ailing Russian-U.S. relationship... [and] is far from encouraging certain efforts, the manifestation of at least some political will to normalize these relations.”