Helsinki summit will strengthen Russia-US dialogue at the Security Council

Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia. Photo: TASS

The meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16 in Helsinki will open up opportunities for more effective cooperation between Moscow and Washington at the United Nations Security Council, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said at a press conference on June 28.

The press conference focused on the results of Russia's presidency of the UN Security Council in June.

Asked whether the atmosphere of the Security Council debates resembled the Cold War and whether he expected a more productive dialogue with his US counterparts after the Helsinki summit, the Russian diplomat said: “Whether we are experiencing a new Cold War – it is difficult to say because we live in a different world. The world of the Cold War was the 1960s, 1970s. The world of the Cold War was very predictable: everyone knew the limits, how to talk to a partner or even an enemy. Now it is more complicated because the world is becoming multipolar…”.

Nebenzia asserted that he would not call the current situation in the world “a Cold War”.

“So I wouldn’t call it a Cold War. We should use a different kind of adjective to describe what’s going on. What’s happening now is certainly not good. We hope that to some extent this is just the beginning and that it should not lead to a much more intense dialogue at all levels, not just at the head of state level,” he said.

“I hope common sense will prevail. We need each other. We don’t want to be loved. We simply need to maintain normal, pragmatic relations with a major country that so many countries around the world depend on, as much as we do,” he concluded.

The Kremlin previously confirmed that the Russia-US summit will take place in the Finnish capital on July 16. Washington has confirmed the time and location of the meeting.

Putin and Trump had their first talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg on July 7, 2017. Later in November, Putin and Trump did not have a bilateral meeting during the APEC Summit in Vietnam, but they spoke on the sidelines of the forum and agreed on a joint statement on Syria. During his nearly 18 months in office, Trump has spoken to Putin several times by phone. The most recent phone call was on March 20, 2018.