Russia recalls Washington envoy for consultations

By AFP 17 March 2021, 7:58 pm

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Russia says it has summoned its Washington envoy back to the country for consultations on its ties with the United States but stresses it wants to prevent an “irreversible deterioration” in relations.

“The Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, has been invited to come to Moscow for consultations conducted with the aim of analyzing what should be done and where to go in the context of ties with the United States,” the Russian foreign ministry says in a statement.

File: Anatoly Antonov, Russian ambassador to the US gestures while speaking during a round-table discussion on the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 20, 2018 (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The announcement comes after President Joe Biden said Russia will “pay a price” for meddling in US elections and agreed with the assessment that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was a “killer.”