Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov looks on sitting in front of a screen displaying Russian President Vladimir Putin addressing his annual press conference via a video link from the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, at the World Trade Centre's congress centre in Moscow on December 17, 2020, amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP)
MOSCOW – The Kremlin said on Monday it did not expect the United States to stop trying to "contain" Russia after a summit of their leaders, and that it was important for the two powers to be pragmatic amid talk of new US sanctions.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday that the United States was preparing more sanctions in relation to the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Moscow was aware of possible impending US sanctions
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden met last week for a summit in Geneva that they both described as pragmatic rather than friendly. Ties are acutely strained.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Moscow was aware of possible impending US sanctions.
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"The president's words about the constructive mood during the summit do not indicate that we have moved away from a sober assessment of our bilateral relations with the United States," Peskov said.
"Pragmatism and sobriety are most important in these relations. And both suggest that the constructive, positive results of the summit absolutely do not indicate that the United States will abandon its policy of containing Russia," he said.
Navalny was flown to Germany in August last year after being poisoned with what German doctors said was the Soviet-era military-grade nerve agent Novichok. Russian authorities have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The two countries were set to discuss "normalizing" the work of their respective embassies, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
READ MORE: Russian ambassador 'to resume work in US next week'
Russia's ambassador to the United States, who had been out of Washington for months, returned on Sunday following the summit.
