The very Cold War: Russia says most communication channels with the U.S. are 'frozen' and bilateral relations are now accompanied by 'extreme degree of distrust'

  • Russia says there has been a break in dialogue between them and United States
  • Kremlin spokesman said bilateral relations were accompanied by distrust
  • It comes after Russia was linked by CIA to hacking of Hillary Clinton's emails
  • Donald Trump has expressed openness to friendlier relations with Russia 

By Reuters and Emily Crane For Dailymail.com

Published: 10:03 EST, 21 December 2016 | Updated: 18:38 EST, 21 December 2016

Almost all communication channels between Russia and the United States are 'frozen', the Kremlin's spokesman has said.

Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that there had been a break in dialogue between the two countries, the RIA news agency reports. 

'Almost every level of dialogue with the United States is frozen. We don't communicate with one another, or (if we do) we do so minimally,' Peskov is reported to have said in an interview to Mir TV.

Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov, pictured left with Vladimir Putin, said communication channels between Russia and the U.S. were 'frozen' 

'Unfortunately, our bilateral relations are now accompanied by an extreme degree of distrust and these relations are in quite deplorable state.'

The tensions are linked to the CIA and FBI linking Russia to the hacking of Hillary Clinton's emails during the U.S. presidential election and sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Crimea.

Peskov also said in the interview he did not know whether President Vladimir Putin would seek re-election in 2018.  

'Everyone's heads are aching because of work and with projects and nobody is thinking or talking about elections,' Peskov said.  

President-elect Donald Trump has expressed openness to friendlier relations with Russia and Vladimir Putin has already heaped praise on him on more than one occasion 

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov (pictured last week) told reporters on Wednesday that bilateral relations between Russian and U.S. were now accompanied by a 'extreme degree of distrust'

The U.S. government hit back on Wednesday at Peskov's comments saying there had been no break in dialogue. 

'It's difficult to know exactly what is meant by this comment, but diplomatic engagement with Russia continues across a wide range of issues,' U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.  

'That we have significant differences with Moscow on some of these issues is well known, but there hasn't been a break in dialogue.'

Kirby said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone only on Tuesday regarding the situation in Syria. 

Putin has spoken previously of his hope that Trump will help restore US-Russia relations

The Russian government spokesman also added during his interview that the country did not expect the incoming U.S. administration to reject NATO enlargement overnight.

It comes after Putin heaped praise on president-elect Donald Trump on more than one occasion. He recently called him a 'clever man' and a 'brilliant and talented person' following Trump's election.

Putin has spoken previously of his hope that Trump will help restore US-Russia relations and analysts said he was unlikely to want to dial up anti-Western rhetoric before the president-elect's inauguration in January. 

Trump's openness to friendlier relations with Russia is being linked to soaring Russian stock prices, CNN Money reports. 

The Micex index is up more than 14 percent since Trump secured the presidency.

 

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