Russia-US bilateral ties separate from Ukraine settlement and shouldn't be governed by it, says Kremlin
"These lines are different. One topic is the Ukrainian settlement, and another one is our bilateral relations, all irritants in our ties, problematic issues, which we have a lot of," the Kremlin spokesman clarified.
Peskov's statement comes following US President Donald Trump's statement that he was disappointed with Russian President Vladmir Putin over his reluctance to end hostilities with Ukraine, and threatening 100% tariffs on all of Russia's trading partners within the next 50-days if Moscow does not come to a deal.
Meanwhile, Moscow and Washington have been engaged in talks aimed at easing tensions and improving bilateral ties. However, progress on this front has recently stalled at the initiative of the United States.
Russia has nonetheless been dismissive of Trump's threats, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov openly mocking the threat of sanctions, saying that it has become 'old news for Moscow', more so as the country is already under facing 90% tariffs, which have had little effect on its economy.
The Kremlin has further called the move impractical and little more than overly dramatic theatrics by the White House, citing Trump's long history of making drastic threats and almost never going through with them, as well as the potential socio-political and economic destruction such a move could unleash on Washington, if it decides to impose 100% tariffs on Russia's trading partners, which include economic giants China and India, who are also two of the US' biggest partners.
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