Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday said the situation in Ukraine had improved following U.S.-imposed sanctions, and that as a result it was time for a second "reset" moment between the two global powers.
In a round of television interviews, Lavrov said Moscow was "absolutely interested in bringing the ties to normal," adding, however, that "it was not us who destroyed them." The U.S. and its partners accuse Russia of fomenting instability in Ukraine and of lawlessly annexing the Crimean peninsula, which led to stiff sanctions against Russian businesses.
"The current U.S. administration is destroying today much of the cooperation structure that it created itself along with us," Lavrov said. "Most likely, something more will come up — a reset no.2 or a reset 2.0."
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Lavrov was referring to the Obama administration's infamous "reset" with Russia, in which then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Moscow with a big red button. Due to a translating error, the button said "overload" and not, as intended, "reset."
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