LONDON (Bywire News) - Despite the calamity of the Russia-Ukraine war, the U.S ambassador to Russia has urged against closing the U.S embassy, in the interest of maintaining open communication.
President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly erratic behaviour and condemnation of so called ‘enemy states’ have raised fears among those within the embassy that it may be closed.
Moscow bureau chiefs of U.S media outlets have been summoned by Russia’s foreign ministry to discuss the unfavourable actions of the U.S and its effects.
Speaking to the Russian News Agency TASS US ambassador to Moscow, John J. Sullivan said: “We must preserve the ability to speak to each other”.
Sullivan, who had been appointed by President Donald Trump, warned against the removal of world famous Russian pieces of work such as the books of Leo Tolstoy, or the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
Antony Blinken, U.S Secretary of State, remarked on the cyclical relationship between the U.S and Russia by dedicating Taylor Swift’s song ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ to Putin.
Adding to this, Sullivan reasoned: “We also will never break up entirely.”
He proceeded by inferring there is a possibility the embassy will close, however, he thinks this “would be a big mistake.”
"As I understand it, the Russian government has mentioned the variant of severing diplomatic relations,” he stated. “We can't just break off diplomatic relations and stop talking to each other.”
"The only reason I can think of that the United State might be forced to close its embassy would be if it became unsafe to continue its work," Sullivan said. However, for the time being, he admitted the gulf between the two sides would be difficult to bridge.
"If I were to make a bet, I would say perhaps not in my lifetime."
(Writing by Anna Kapanadze, editing by Tom Cropper and Klaudia Fior)