Lavrov: If Russia and the US have less tension, even the world will be better

“We think that the world would be better if Russia and the US had fewer tensions, understood better, and removed disputes”, Senator Richard Shelby said during the meeting with Lavrov at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We are competitors, but we don't need to be opponents”, the Republican Senator of Alabama added, according to statements broadcast on Russian television. Expressing it in English, Serguei Lavrov said he hoped the visit by US senators would symbolize the relaunch of relations between American and Russian parliamentarians. “I think restarting a dialogue would be a very important event on the eve of meeting between the two presidents, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin”, he confirmed. US senators will meet with representatives of the Russian Parliament's Lower and High Chamber. “They will not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed to reporters. Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet on 16 July in Helsinki for their first bilateral summit, envisioning improved very degraded relations between Moscow and Washington.