US, Russia can 'never completely separate,' says America amid rising tensions with Kremlin

In a key development, United States' envoy to Russia, John Sullivan, in an interview with TASS, shed light on the bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington amid the ongoing Ukraine war. As the US-Russia ties deteriorated over the latter’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Sullivan told the Russian news agency that both sides are “never completely separating”. According to the US envoy, Washington and Kremlin cannot afford to sever the diplomatic ties “completely”. Sullivan added that both countries “should have embassies” which is the “bare minimum.”

"We are also never completely separating. We can’t just cut diplomatic relations really, and just not talk," US envoy to Russia. "At a minimum, we sit near each other at the UN Security Council in New York every day. No matter what, we are better talking to each other at the UN, at the Security Council. And we should have embassies. This is the bare minimum. This is basic."

"We should have embassies in Moscow and in Washington, not just the Russian mission to the UN. I just think factually, we’ll never be able to get to that level of complete separation because we are joined as permanent members of the [UN] Security Council. And having been joined in that way we do need to continue to engage with each other despite many contested issues that we have. We see each other, speak and present on a daily basis in New York. That’s a bare minimum," Sullivan stressed, according to TASS. 

Putin warns West against arms delivery to Ukraine 

Sullivan’s remarks came as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the US that Moscow would strike fresh targets in Ukraine on the West supplied longer-range missiles to Kyiv for use in high-precision mobile rocket systems. In an interview broadcast Sunday, the Kremlin leader said any more deliveries from the West would prompt Moscow to hit “objects that we haven’t yet struck". However, Putin's cryptic threat did not include what the new targets might be.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Russian Presiden floated threats against the West just days after the US President Joe Biden's administration announced plans to deliver an additional $700 million of security assistance for Ukraine that includes four precision-guided, medium-range rocket systems, as well as helicopters, Javelin anti-tank systems, radars, tactical vehicles and more.

Image: AP