The loss of mutual trust between the two nuclear powers is a huge challenge for the whole world. Therefore, both states should postpone all other matters aside and rebuild the dialogue. With such a statement, the head of the US diplomatic mission in Russia, John Huntsman. "Restoring the level of trust" and the opportunity "to work productively with each other", the diplomat called his main task in the post of ambassador. Now the confidential relations, in his estimation, are "just at zero". "Confidence is a prerequisite for joint work and progress in relations both between people and between countries. Without trust nothing can be done. So the biggest challenge for me was to understand what I need to do in order to build trust that allows me to honestly and openly discuss problems at the same table and find practical solutions where we have a common interest. But for this, figuratively speaking, you should well "refuel" with confidence, "Huntsman said in an interview with the newspaper Vedomosti,. According to the ambassador, everyone in the United States only dreams about how to reconcile with our country. "I did not meet a single person - and I saw in the literal sense of the word everyone, starting with the president - who would not talk about the need to improve relations with Russia. Everyone said that we need to make more efforts for this, "the diplomat said.. Relations between the countries, in his opinion, deteriorated for two reasons. First, because of the situation in Ukraine, which resulted in Washington imposing sanctions against Moscow. Secondly, because of Russia's interference in the presidential election in 2016. "In American politics, the system of electing the head of state is sacred. And it is important for us to believe that this system is based on trust and impeccability. And any attempt to undermine this system will be seen as an extremely inappropriate and unfortunate encroachment, "Huntsman explained.. At the same time, he admitted that there is no evidence of involvement of "Kremlin hackers" in rigging the results of voting in open access. Evidence can only be found in US intelligence services, but they keep them classified as "secret". It's not a fact that they will ever be published, so while the main reason for the prejudice of Americans against Russia is the rare unanimity of intelligence organizations about Moscow's involvement in the interference in the elections. As for Ukraine, the situation in this country is "critical for the restoration of our relations with Moscow," said the US ambassador.

He is upset that there is no progress in resolving the conflict, while he insists that the situation can be saved only by the deployment of a full-scale peacekeeping operation in the Donbass.

Commenting on the diplomatic scandal, John Huntsman said that the expulsion of a huge number of employees of the American diplomatic mission was an asymmetrical response from Russia. The diplomat called the "exchange of courtesies" between the countries "terrible" and "just a tragedy".