From MT:
"Russia's Lavrov Says Ties With Washington Need 'Reset 2.0'"
Moscow called on Sunday for a new "reset 2.0" in relations with Washington, saying the situation in Ukraine that had led to Western sanctions against Russia was now improving thanks to Kremlin peace initiatives. Washington and Brussels accuse Moscow of supporting a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine and have imposed financial sanctions, which they have repeatedly tightened since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March. The conflict has brought relations between Moscow and the West to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War. U.S. President Barack Obama said last week that the sanctions could be lifted if Russia takes the path of peace and diplomacy. In a television interview, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was time to repeat the "reset," Washington's name for an attempt to improve ties early in Obama's presidency.
"We are absolutely interested in bringing the ties to normal but it was not us who destroyed them. Now they require what the American would probably call a 'reset'," Lavrov said, according to a transcript of the interview on his ministry's website. Shortly after Obama took office in 2009, his then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Lavrov with a red "reset" button intended to signal a fresh start to relations that had been strained under Obama's predecessor George W. Bush. In a diplomatic gaffe much mocked at the time, the button bore a Russian label that said "overload" instead of "reset;" the two words are similar in Russian. Lavrov said that thanks to "initiatives of the Russian President," the situation was improving on the ground in Ukraine, where a ceasefire has been in place for several weeks. The Sept.5 ceasefire is largely holding though some fighting has continued in places including the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. "The ceasefire is taking shape, though of course not without problems. Monitoring mechanisms have been introduced, talks between Russia, the European Union and Ukraine have started, gas talks have restarted," Lavrov said. Western countries say thousands of Russian troops have fought in Ukraine and accuse Russia of sending weapons, including a surface-to-air missile used to shoot down a Malaysian airliner over rebel-held territory in July. Moscow denies participating in the conflict or arming the rebels. Lavrov also repeated Russian criticism of the U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State fighters in Syria, saying Washington was guilty of a "double standard" for refusing to cooperate with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, a Russian ally. Lavrov said that despite the Western sanctions, Russia did not feel isolated on the world stage. Moscow has responded to the sanctions by banning imports of most food from Western countries. "We feel no isolation. But, having said that, I want to emphasize in particular that we do not want to go to extremes and abandon the European and American directions in our foreign economic cooperation," Lavrov said.
^ As much as I like the country of Russia and the Russian people as a whole I don't think the US (or EU, Canada or any other country) should "reset" their relations with Russia at this time. To do so would only validate what Russia has done (and continues to do) in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine. It would be the same kind of appeasement that France and England made with Nazi Germany in the 1930s after Germany took over Czechoslovakia. If Russia really wants peace and good relations with other countries then they need to stop bullying them, stop invading, stop the annexations, stop supplying troops and weapons to known- terrorists. Only then can things proceed in a positive way. You can tell that the sanctions against Russia are working by the way the Russian Government tries to carefully word their statement that they aren't. Most of the time you don't even have to read between the lines in official media sources the way you had to during Soviet times. Also Russia not joining the international fight against ISIS shows how stubborn they are. Even though Russia has had many terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists and ISIS has specifically included Russia as one of its targets the Russian Government would rather support the Syrian dictatorship then protect it's own people from attack. ^
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-s-lavrov-says-ties-with-washington-need-reset-2-0/507932.html
"Russia's Lavrov Says Ties With Washington Need 'Reset 2.0'"
Moscow called on Sunday for a new "reset 2.0" in relations with Washington, saying the situation in Ukraine that had led to Western sanctions against Russia was now improving thanks to Kremlin peace initiatives. Washington and Brussels accuse Moscow of supporting a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine and have imposed financial sanctions, which they have repeatedly tightened since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March. The conflict has brought relations between Moscow and the West to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War. U.S. President Barack Obama said last week that the sanctions could be lifted if Russia takes the path of peace and diplomacy. In a television interview, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was time to repeat the "reset," Washington's name for an attempt to improve ties early in Obama's presidency.
"We are absolutely interested in bringing the ties to normal but it was not us who destroyed them. Now they require what the American would probably call a 'reset'," Lavrov said, according to a transcript of the interview on his ministry's website. Shortly after Obama took office in 2009, his then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Lavrov with a red "reset" button intended to signal a fresh start to relations that had been strained under Obama's predecessor George W. Bush. In a diplomatic gaffe much mocked at the time, the button bore a Russian label that said "overload" instead of "reset;" the two words are similar in Russian. Lavrov said that thanks to "initiatives of the Russian President," the situation was improving on the ground in Ukraine, where a ceasefire has been in place for several weeks. The Sept.5 ceasefire is largely holding though some fighting has continued in places including the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. "The ceasefire is taking shape, though of course not without problems. Monitoring mechanisms have been introduced, talks between Russia, the European Union and Ukraine have started, gas talks have restarted," Lavrov said. Western countries say thousands of Russian troops have fought in Ukraine and accuse Russia of sending weapons, including a surface-to-air missile used to shoot down a Malaysian airliner over rebel-held territory in July. Moscow denies participating in the conflict or arming the rebels. Lavrov also repeated Russian criticism of the U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State fighters in Syria, saying Washington was guilty of a "double standard" for refusing to cooperate with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, a Russian ally. Lavrov said that despite the Western sanctions, Russia did not feel isolated on the world stage. Moscow has responded to the sanctions by banning imports of most food from Western countries. "We feel no isolation. But, having said that, I want to emphasize in particular that we do not want to go to extremes and abandon the European and American directions in our foreign economic cooperation," Lavrov said.
^ As much as I like the country of Russia and the Russian people as a whole I don't think the US (or EU, Canada or any other country) should "reset" their relations with Russia at this time. To do so would only validate what Russia has done (and continues to do) in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine. It would be the same kind of appeasement that France and England made with Nazi Germany in the 1930s after Germany took over Czechoslovakia. If Russia really wants peace and good relations with other countries then they need to stop bullying them, stop invading, stop the annexations, stop supplying troops and weapons to known- terrorists. Only then can things proceed in a positive way. You can tell that the sanctions against Russia are working by the way the Russian Government tries to carefully word their statement that they aren't. Most of the time you don't even have to read between the lines in official media sources the way you had to during Soviet times. Also Russia not joining the international fight against ISIS shows how stubborn they are. Even though Russia has had many terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists and ISIS has specifically included Russia as one of its targets the Russian Government would rather support the Syrian dictatorship then protect it's own people from attack. ^
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-s-lavrov-says-ties-with-washington-need-reset-2-0/507932.html
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