Russia Downplays Cooling of Relations With US After Washington Threatens Sanctions

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on Thursday downplayed the cooling of relations between Moscow and Washington after the United States threatened a new round of sanctions. When asked during a press conference in Moscow whether the positive trend in U.S.–Russia relations had faded, Ryabkov said he disagreed but said that the Trump administration was acting erratically. “No, I do not agree. I think that the current U.S. administration is acting erratically on this issue, as well as on many other issues. I would not presume to say that they are firmly following a once-and-for-all established course. We are not dramatizing this,” he said, according to Russian news agency RIA....