Russia says better ties with US up to President Biden, his team

Moscow, Russia - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that any improvement in Moscow’s tense relationship with Washington would depend on Joe Biden when he enters the White House, while former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev urged both the countries to repair their strained relations, hours before President Joe Biden entered the White House.

The United States recently blamed Kremlin-backed hackers for a massive cyberattack that breached government institutions, adding to a long list of grievances plaguing ties between the former Cold War rivals.

“Russia will live as it has lived for hundreds of years: Seeking good relations with the United States,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. Whether or not Washington works towards achieving the same goal ‘will depend on Mr Biden and his team,’ he added.

Despite disagreements surrounding conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, as well as US election meddling and hacking allegations against Russia, the countries will be in a race to extend a landmark nuclear weapons accord as Biden was sworn in.

“The current condition of relations between Russia and the United States is of great concern,” Gorbachev said in an interview with state-run news agency TASS.

“But this also means that something has to be done about it in order to normalise relations,” the last Soviet leader said.

“We cannot fence ourselves off from each other.”

Gorbachev (89) reiterated that it was necessary to preserve the New START Treaty, a 2010 arms reduction accord that limits Russia and the United States to 1,550 nuclear warheads and is set to expire February 5.

Peskov said on Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin has ‘consistently’ advocated for the preservation of the treaty and that it was now up to Washington to preserve the pact.

Negotiations under the administration of President Donald Trump stalled as Washington pushed for China to join the agreement even though Beijing said it had no intention of joining.

Biden’s aides have indicated that the incoming US leader will work towards extending the treaty, but he also vowed to take a tougher stance on Russia during the campaign.

Peskov said on Wednesday that the change in the US presidency will make no difference to Russia and that the Kremlin was not making any preparations for Biden’s inauguration.