Contact reason: Russia is ready for interparliamentary dialogue with the United States
Russia is ready to resume dialogue with the United States at the parliamentary level, the State Duma and the Federation Council told Izvestia. Among the possible topics for discussion by lawmakers are economics, culture and sports, the lower house clarified. Against the background of negotiations between the top leadership of the two countries, forms of communication along different lines have intensified. How the contacts of parliamentarians can bring Russia and the United States closer is in the Izvestia article.
Interparliamentary contacts between Russia and the USA
The Federation Council is ready for contacts with American senators through the interparliamentary dialogue. If there are relevant proposals from the American side, they will be constructively considered, Konstantin Kosachev, deputy chairman of the upper house of the Russian parliament, told Izvestia.
— The fact is that we did not interrupt the parliamentary dialogue on our own initiative with any of the foreign countries, including unfriendly ones, including the United States. All bilateral inter-parliamentary dialogues, which are currently in a frozen state, were interrupted at the initiative of the other side. This also applies to the dialogue between Russian and American senators, if we talk about the upper chambers. Therefore, if and when our American colleagues realize that the inter—parliamentary dialogue is a very good effective mechanism that helps advance bilateral relations as a whole, we will always be ready to reciprocate, there is not the slightest doubt about that," the senator told Izvestia.
And he clarified: so far, the Federation Council has not received such signals from the American side. In February, Valentina Matvienko, Chairman of the Federation Council, expressed hope for the restoration of contacts between Russia and the United States at the level of interparliamentary dialogue. But then she noted that this issue was not on the agenda yet.
Alexey Chepa, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, also told Izvestia that at the moment there have been no proposals for dialogue from members of the US House of Representatives, but certain signals are coming through some channels. The State Duma is ready to resume work with the United States on parliamentary diplomacy, Vladislav Davankov, vice speaker of the lower house of parliament, told Izvestia.
— Dialogue is always good. And the fact that high-level contacts have begun gives us moderate optimism. Parliamentary diplomacy is also very important, and we are ready to resume work on this line," the politician told Izvestia.
He stressed that it is even more important to establish horizontal ties in trade, science, and art. More often than not, it is precisely such ties that cement relations between countries the most. And they do not allow politicians to make drastic decisions, Vladislav Davankov noted.
But a dialogue with the EU on the interparliamentary line is unlikely in the near future, given the malicious position taken by most of the political leaders of the union countries, Konstantin Kosachev believes.
— Recently, we hosted a delegation of the National Assembly of Slovakia headed by two vice-speakers. Just recently, I participated in a video conference in the second dialogue with parliamentarians from the European Union and the European Parliament, which was organized by the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Yesterday we participated in such a dialogue, but I must say that so far, on the other hand, our colleagues are participating in such a dialogue in an individual capacity, that is, I have not seen a single decision at the parliamentary level, at the level of a resolution of the parliament of any of the EU countries, and especially the European Parliament, which would speak in favor of restoration dialogue with Russian colleagues," Kosachev told Izvestia.
What topics can parliamentarians discuss?
With the advent of the Trump administration, Russia and the United States have resumed dialogue on a wide range of issues. In particular, on February 12, the presidents of the two countries had their first telephone conversation since 2022. This was followed by a series of consultations in Saudi Arabia: on February 18, the delegations agreed to restore the staffing levels of diplomatic staff at the embassies of both countries. And on March 24 in Riyadh, representatives of the Russian Federation and the United States discussed the Black Sea grain initiative and the continuation of dialogue on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. At the same time, the Russian delegation was led by Senator Grigory Karasin and adviser to the head of the FSB Sergey Beseda. In addition, at the end of February in Istanbul, the parties held another round of negotiations — in Turkey, the delegations discussed the restoration of normal operation of embassies.
Russian-American cooperation, if fully resumed, will, of course, involve interparliamentary cooperation. Conditions are beginning to be created for this, first of all it is necessary to restore the infrastructure, Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told Izvestia.
"Consulates and diplomatic missions of our countries should at least be fully operational, and issues related to the seizure of Russian diplomatic property, which was carried out by the government of the United States of America, should be resolved," the deputy told Izvestia. — Representatives of the parliamentary corps could play a major role in the development of economic and cultural cooperation, sports cooperation, as well as directly in establishing and expanding diplomatic contacts. All this is possible, all this is possible.
There were also difficult periods in relations between the United States and the USSR, but communications were carried out through various channels, Novikov concluded.
Sport has already become a platform for the development of dialogue between the Russian Federation and the United States. Following a telephone conversation on March 18, Donald Trump supported Vladimir Putin's idea to organize hockey matches in America and Russia between players playing in the NHL and KHL.
— We are in favor of negotiations in all directions. We are both "for hockey" and "for football". By the way, these are not games, but what people want," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Channel One.
The interparliamentary dialogue between the Russian Federation and the United States was previously one of the ways to maintain contacts and develop relations. In particular, from 2012 to 2024, there was the Fort Ross Dialogue Forum, which was attended by current and former parliamentarians and representatives of the business community. And in 2018, before the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Helsinki, a group of American congressmen visited Russia, who met with Sergey Lavrov and held consultations with their Russian counterparts. In 2012, a delegation of Russian senators visited the United States. Further visits by parliamentarians from the Russian Federation were disrupted due to the unconstructive position of the leadership of the American Congress and legal delays.
The anti-Russian position of the Democratic Party, whose members are not in the mood for dialogue, may become an obstacle to interparliamentary cooperation between the Russian Federation. There are also supporters of continued confrontation with Russia among Republicans, despite the fact that Trump is trying to improve relations with Moscow. On the contrary, the Russian parliament has developed a consolidated position on a possible dialogue with the United States.
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