There is currently no large-scale engagement between Moscow and Washington: Dmitry Drobnitsky

Dmitry Drobnitsky, political scientist specializing in American studies, commented to Alpha News on the talks between Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, and Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State.

According to the expert, there’s no real basis to speak of any special initiative from the American side in holding the talks.

“I haven’t seen any particular initiative from the US to hold these talks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments amounted to saying that if the right conditions arise, the United States is always ready to act as a mediator. As for the contacts between Sergey Lavrov and Marco Rubio, this meeting was arranged between the two diplomatic departments. And it seems to me that it was held simply so as not to appear entirely irresponsible and not to send a signal that contacts between Moscow and Washington had completely ceased. They happened to be together in Manila for ASEAN events, so why not meet and talk. There weren’t really any particular issues to discuss. It’s clear the sides listed a number of topics, but those same topics could have been listed before the meeting or after it. It doesn’t make much difference. Today, unfortunately, there simply is no substantive agenda for talks between Russia and the United States,” Drobnitsky noted.

According to the political scientist, the only serious task for Moscow and Washington is to prevent dangerous escalation between the two powers.

“Speaking of prospects, the United States and Russia today have very few reasons for talks. Essentially, only one serious question remains: how to build engagement under conditions where the interests of the two countries largely do not coincide and often lie in completely different planes. In general, Russian and US diplomacy currently has only one truly important task, which is to build relations in such a way that any friction in areas of overlapping interests does not lead to escalation, and especially not to the risk of direct military confrontation. Nothing beyond this will happen between the United States and Russia at present or in the foreseeable future. There is no large-scale commercial engagement of the kind that’s periodically mentioned, and, for the most part, there never has been. Nothing of the sort exists today, either on the agenda or in the real capabilities of the sides,” Drobnitsky concluded.