Vladimir Putin’s minister has called for Donald Trump’s administration to make the first move to improve relations between their countries.
It comes as the US president looks to end the bloody Ukraine war which started in February 2022, when the Russian president invaded in a land grab.
Trump and Putin are yet to directly discuss how to resolve the conflict, though both have signalled that they are willing.
That is a significant development considering the US-Russia relationship completely fractured over the Ukraine war.
Even so, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov wrote on the Foreign Ministry website that the US “must take the first step” to fix the relationship.
According to Reuters news agency, he said the Kremlin has tried to be a partner with the west, but “no one was listening or, in theory, wanted to listen.”
He added: “And that is because the underlying aim was to weaken the geopolitical rival to the maximum.”
He said Moscow has regained “its lawful place in world geopolitics by frustrating the plans of Joe Biden’s administration”, alleging the last White House wanted to push a “strategic defeat” on Russia in a “hybrid war” via its support for Ukraine.
Ryabkov continued: “Against the background of this failed policy and with the change of administration, it is the United States that must take the first step in normalising relations on the basis of mutual respect and equal rights.”
Despite this warning, he said Russia is “open to dialogue and ready to reach agreement through hard bargaining while taking account of realities on the ground ... So it is up to D Trump and his team to make a decision.”
Putin has heaped praise on Trump since his return to office, describing him as “a clever and pragmatic man”.
The US president has expressed his sympathy over Russia’s frustration the idea that Ukraine could one day join Nato, and once described Putin’s invasion as “savvy” and “genius”.
But Trump has also adopted a harsher tone in recent weeks, saying he thinks Putin is “destroying Russia by not making a deal” and threatened to put more sanctions on the country if it did not stop the “ridiculous war”.
Although Trump officially returned to the office on January 21, only preliminary contact has been established between the US and Russia so far, according to Russia’s ambassador to Britain Andrei Kelin.
Asked if Trump was seen as a friend of Russia by ITV News, the ambassador said: “No.”
“That is clearly no, because what we have heard about peace through force, about [the] necessity to impose more sanctions on Russia,” he said, adding: “We are hearing different things and a lot of speculation all around so it is too early to say what will be the outcome of that.”