The general health of the world’s economy is being dragged down by ongoing political and economic disputes between Russia and the United States, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said, urging to resolve the differences.
Over the past several years there has been a sharp deterioration in relations between Moscow and Washington with many geopolitical experts seeing the current ties at their worst level since the Cold War. In 2014, the US and its Western allies introduced their first sanctions against Russia over the country’s alleged involvement in the Ukraine crisis and the reunification with Crimea. Since then, the penalties have been extended and expanded over alleged elections meddling and various other reasons.
Also on rt.com Russia-US trade turnover hit $25 billion & rising despite sanctions – Lavrov“This is not the best climate for business development… I think that we need to strengthen our links, both economic and political links, between the US and Russia. This would be of benefit to the global economy and, to our countries, our people and our entrepreneurs, first and foremost,” the Russian finance minister said in an interview with CNBC.
Earlier this year, Washington released the results of the two-year long investigation into whether the Russian government tried to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report revealed no evidence of collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Kremlin.
“We have never had any doubts in the conclusions of that report, on the one hand,” Siluanov said when asked about probable relief among business community in Russia in the light of the Mueller report.
Also on rt.com Just business: British & US investors gobble up Russian government bonds“On the other hand, I think that it is not really about the results of that investigation, the problem lies with the overall state of relations between our two countries.”
Earlier, the minister highlighted that the result of the probe would have no effect on Washington’s decision to lift the anti-Russia sanctions.
“It is the change in the overall rhetoric in our relations that is the problem. We can see that the results of the report have had no effect, they have not led to any willingness to stop the sanctions that are coming out of the US,” Siluanov said speaking at the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) spring meeting.
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Source : RT Business News
Russian finance minister calls for restoring economic & political ties between Moscow & Washington
Russian finance minister calls for restoring economic & political ties between Moscow & Washington