Ambassador Antonov on Huntsman Meeting: We Found a Working "Diplomatic Language"

- Recently you had a meeting with your colleague, the Ambassador of the United States to Russia Jon Huntsman. You are the one who proposed the meeting. The meeting took place here, in Washington. Can you tell us a bit about the topics you discussed, in what language, what was the meeting like and what we can hope for.

Anatoly Antonov, Russian Ambassador to the United States:

 

- I met Mr. Huntsman in this very hall, we were speaking, as they say, diplomatic language, but in English.

I really enjoyed the meeting. I liked the attitude of Mr. Huntsman. We, of course, discussed what we could do together to improve relations between Russia and the US. I believe Huntsman is a smart and understanding diplomat. I think he clearly understands the current situation. I firmly believe he will be doing what he can. He proposed several interesting ideas. I immediately supported them. I do not want these ideas to remain in this hall. I hope they will be implemented someday. I am looking forward to certain actions from Mr. Huntsman. I am ready to support him or to lead our tandem forward. I have a single purpose: to mend relations between Russia and the US.

Today I said quite a lot about that. I told many times: my goal is to mend relations between Russia and the US, not to let them deteriorate. But I would like to say that we are not asking anything from the US. I want to say that we want to mend relations between Russia and the US, as long as the US wants the same thing. If today the politicians are not ready to do this, then we'll say we are sorry, we'll be waiting, we'll be explaining and insisting that good relations between two permanent members of the Security Council will be beneficial for world peace and security.