Russia Hopes To Find ‘Common Ground’ With Trump’s Administration

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Lavrov said the European nation is ready to meet with the Trump administration in other to reach common ground on nuclear arms control and other issues if each country proceeds from national interests and shows respect for the other side.

He noted that the dialogue could cover hypersonic weapons, a U.S. missile shield in Europe, space weapons and nuclear testing.

He voiced hope that Trump’s team will consist of pragmatic people, “who will not engage in moralizing and will try to understand the interests of their partners just as they clearly uphold their own interests.”

Lavrov accused U.S. officials of making repeated attempts to recruit Russian diplomats in the United States as spies, including a deputy chief of mission. He called the attempts “cynical” and “unprecedented.”

This is coming a day after the U.S. President-elect offered to end sanctions imposed on Russia over its annexation of Crimea in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal with Moscow.

Trump, who will be inaugurated on Friday as the 45th U.S. president, raised the prospect of the first big nuclear arms control agreement with Moscow since the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed by President Barack Obama in 2010.

“They have sanctions on Russia, let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia,” Trump was quoted as saying by The Times.

“For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that’s part of it. But Russia’s hurting very badly right now because of sanctions, but I think something can happen that a lot of people are gonna benefit.”

They have been bad blood between Russia and the Obama administration. Earlier in the year, the U.S acussed Moscow of interfering in the 2016 elections.

President Obama retaliated by sanctioning four Russian individuals and five Russian entities.