Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that it makes no discernible difference whether Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton or her Republican counterpart Donald Trump is elected president of the United States in 2016.
"Of course, we follow the election campaign and its peripeteia," Moscow's chief diplomat said at the Terra Scientia International Youth Forum, reported state-owned news service Sputnik International. "There is an opinion that it has been easier for our country, since Soviet times, with a Republican president, rather than a Democratic one ... But I can honestly tell you that I do not see a major difference."
As the fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government forces continues to fester, tensions between the U.S. and Russia have sunk to lows not seen since the Cold War, according to The Associated Press.
Last year, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine after a large majority of voters chose to secede from Ukraine and unify with Russia, though the U.S. rejected the results and many suspected the vote was illegal, reported the Guardian.
President Barack Obama has been critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and what the West says is an aggressive campaign to stir up unrest in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. In July, Gen. Joseph Dunford, soon-to-be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services committee that "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security," reported CNN.
Nonetheless, Lavrov said Monday that Moscow is still willing to repair relations when Washington is ready.
"When we receive offers to restore, even gradually, the channels, mechanisms for interaction and dialogue that were frozen by our American partners, I am certain that we are not going to ogle, and will agree to restore these channels," Lavrov said, according to Sputnik.
