It is irrelevant to speak of a new Cold War between Moscow and Washington, according to Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak, the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reports.
"Now we are probably going through the most difficult period of Russian-US relations since the end of the Cold War. But I still insist that we are not in a state of a new Cold War. And I continue to insist that Russia will not go that way," Kislyak said.
He made the remarks during an informal meeting with students from American universities, which was also attended by diplomats from a number of countries.
"We have a whole array of striking differences. We also have, to put it mildly, unfriendly actions by the US government toward Russia. But it is important to understand that even now there is no ideological atmosphere of the past, which defined the relations between our two countries at the time," Kislyak pointed out.
He warned against perceiving the current situation through the use of Cold War stereotypes.
"The younger generation sees the Cold War as an abstract concept; something they can read about. For us, it was a part of our life, which affected the psychology of the people," Kislyak said, adding that the US is more susceptible to stereotypes due to the idea of so-called American exceptionalism, which holds that the United States is qualitatively different from other countries.
Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated drastically over the situation in Ukraine.
In summer 2014, the EU, Canada and the US slapped sanctions on Russia which targeted entire sectors of the Russian economy. Moscow responded by limiting food imports from the countries that imposed the sanctions.
No New Cold War Between Moscow and Washington: Russian Ambassador
18 February 2015
Read: 1662
There is no new Cold War between Moscow and Washington, according to Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.
