New US ambassador to Moscow meets with Russian deputy FM

MOSCOW (AP) — New U.S. ambassador to Moscow Lynne Tracy on Monday met with a Russian deputy international minister, officers stated.

Tracy arrived in Moscow final week, taking over her submit amid excessive tensions over Russia’s army actions in Ukraine and U.S. help for Ukraine together with President Joe Biden’s latest determination to supply superior battle tanks. Russia accuses Washington of partaking in a proxy struggle with Moscow.

A U.S. Embassy assertion didn’t give particulars of what Tracy mentioned with Deputy Overseas Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

It stated she “begins her tenure in Moscow centered on sustaining dialogue between our capitals at a time of unprecedented stress. She may even be an advocate for the protection and truthful remedy of all U.S. residents detained in Russia.”

Paul Whelan, a company safety director and former Marine, was arrested in Russia 4 years in the past and is serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted of espionage. The Biden administration considers him to be wrongfully detained, however was unable to safe his launch final yr in a swap that freed American basketball star Brittney Griner in trade for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The Russian Overseas Ministry stated that “throughout the dialog on some topical problems with bilateral relations, which have sharply aggravated just lately resulting from Washington’s fault, the counterproductiveness of the present U.S. confrontational course … was identified to the top of the American diplomatic mission.”

“The Russian facet expects the ambassador to strictly comply with the necessities of Russian legal guidelines … observe our norms and customs, and cling to the precept of non-interference within the inside affairs of the host nation,” the ministry stated.