Ambassador Belyaev announced the de facto freezing of contacts between Russia and Sweden

Russia's bilateral political contacts with Sweden were frozen at the initiative of the Swedish side, Russian Ambassador to Stockholm Sergey Belyaev said on May 31.

"Our bilateral political contacts have been frozen at the initiative of the Swedish side, trade turnover is steadily declining, and scientific, cultural and sports exchanges have been reduced to zero," the head of the diplomatic mission said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

The ambassador added that Russian-Swedish relations are currently experiencing a period of stagnation, as the Swedish authorities "are emphatically carefully implementing unfriendly attitudes towards our country." Accordingly, according to the diplomat, steps to restore mutual contacts should be expected from Sweden, as the initiator of the crisis in bilateral relations.

"However, here we return to the issue of independence of foreign policy decisions, which Stockholm lost with its accession to NATO," the diplomat said.

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How is this related to the United States and why are these states not ready to compromise with Russia?

On May 25, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova told Izvestia that Sweden would receive a protest note from the Russian Federation after dumping a container of paint using a drone at the Russian embassy. She stressed that Stockholm needs to clearly fulfill its obligations under the Vienna Convention.