Medvedev says US-Russia talks ‘very important’ after years of silence

ISTANBUL

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council underscored on Thursday the importance of the recent talks between the presidents of Russia and the US, calling them a crucial step after years of diplomatic silence.

“The presidents of Russia and the US have talked at last. This is very important in and of itself,” Medvedev said in a statement. “The previous US administration cut off all high-level contacts in an attempt to punish and humiliate Russia. As a result, the world was balancing on the brink of the Apocalypse.”

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, after speaking to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, said they agreed to start negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine “immediately.”

After Russia launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022, there were no telephone calls between Putin and former US President Joe Biden, who along with Europe, supported Kyiv with economic, humanitarian and military support against Moscow.​​​ ​

The phone call came after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders – when Russia annexed Crimea - was unrealistic and that the US does not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a negotiated settlement to end the conflict.

Medvedev accused the US of acting as the world’s dominant power, imposing sanctions and engaging in what he described as a “hybrid war” against Russia.

He argued that previous geopolitical crises had not led to the kind of isolation imposed on Russia in recent years, emphasizing the importance of dialogue.

“It’s true that we would hold shouting matches with America and sometimes practiced brinkmanship, but nobody slapped personal sanctions on Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis or on Brezhnev during the conflict in Afghanistan or severed contacts between the heads of state,” he said. “On the contrary, the leaders kept lines of communication open, which helped resolve crises.”

He warned of the dangers of continued confrontation, calling for diplomacy instead of political isolation.

“In our small, controversial but highly interdependent world, there can be no chief country or planetary ruler,” he said. “This is a lesson that must be learned by the arrogant American elites and the so-called deep state (US bureaucracy).”

Medvedev cautioned that if Washington fails to acknowledge this, tensions will only escalate. “If they don’t, we’ll get back to where we were. The Doomsday Clock will keep on ticking towards midnight, and then we will surely ‘behold a pale horse, and the horseman’s name will be Death.’”

Trump later told reporters in the Oval Office that he and Putin could meet in Saudi Arabia.