Russia advocates dialogue with West to resolve issues

MOSCOW

Russia on Tuesday said it advocates dialogue to resolve the most difficult issues with the West.

However, the EU and US prefer sanctions to dialogue, and they continue speaking about restrictive measures “with maniacal persistence”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

“Unfortunately, the discussion about sanctions is being held in Brussels. This is something we would not welcome, this is something we would not like,” Peskov said.

But Russia does not give up expectations for the political will to continue and dialogue to prevail, he added.

Peskov also noted that a positive side of the constant threat of sanctions is that it keeps Russia in shape.

“On the other hand, the potential threat of such unfriendly manifestations, of course, obliges us to be in constant mobilization and readiness,” he stressed.

Asked about Russia’s alleged involvement in cyber-attacks against French companies, Peskov said a group of hackers cannot be related to Russia.

On Monday, the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI) published a report that claimed French companies have been subjected to cyber-attacks since 2017.

The report does not specify what damage was caused to enterprises and what exactly the hackers did, however, it said the group behind the attacks can be affiliated with Russia.