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Russian envoy: US should stop blaming Moscow for problems

The Hill

By Jordy Yager – 05/07/12 12:48 PM ET

The U.S. should stop blaming Russia for every problem, that country’s ambassador to the U.S. said Monday.

The United States should stop blaming Russia for every problem, that country’s ambassador to America said Monday.

“To see Russians behind everything that goes wrong in the United States or for the United States, it’s exactly what is wrong with our relations,” Sergey Kislyak said at a roundtable breakfast in Washington hosted by the Institute for Education.

Kislyak’s made the comment after telling an anecdote about a recent trip he took through Nebraska.

During the visit, he said local media asked him if Russia was behind the Colombia prostitution scandal that has shaken the U.S. Secret Service. A radio show host implied, Kislyak said, that Russia had planted the prostitutes to spy on the United States.

Kislyak was quick to acknowledge that Russians are just as guilty of holding suspicions of the United States.

“When it comes to Russia, many Russians believe that the United States is guilty for everything that goes wrong in Russia,” he said. “I would claim that certainly they are in some instances, but not in all. We also contribute.”

He said both sides need to move beyond Cold War attitudes of suspicion and adopt an outlook of inclusion and partnership.