Kremlin spokesman says impossible to speak about thaw in Russia-US relations

Peskov

MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/: Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday the recent close contacts between the Russian and US leaders, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, on issues of the oil market stabilization cannot be interpreted as a sign of a thaw in relations between the two powers.

"Can this situation be projected onto the general background of bilateral Russian-US relations? Such a conclusion is improbable today," he told reports when asked whether he thought the recent contacts between the two presidents could inspire hope for the improvement in bilateral relations.

According to the Kremlin spokesman, the Russian and US leaders "have been having quite constructive contacts for a long time." "At this point, an absolute, so to say, convergence of the two countries’ interests to pool efforts to stabilize the oil markets, obviously, dictates the necessity of more frequent contacts," he explained.

"The presidents have long, frank, constructive and efficient contacts," Peskov noted. "And you see the result - the [OPEC+ oil production cuts] deal has been finalized and formalized."