Russia Says US Plans to Increase Economic Pressure on Moscow and Its Partners

The United States is exerting pressure on Russia and plans to increase that pressure further, including on Moscow's partners, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"We can see that they plan to increase pressure on Russia — economic pressure, extraterritorial pressure — not only on Russia, but also on our partners," he said.

SPIEF is being held at the Expoforum Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 3 to June 6. The forum's programme focuses on shaping a new model of global development amid the transformation of the world economy.

US Accused of Moving Away From Previous Understandings

"The problem is that the Americans themselves moved away from the version that Steve Witkoff, the special envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump, brought before the meeting in Anchorage last year and which the Russian side accepted. Then they suddenly began proposing additional conditions," the researcher said.

Minchenko stressed that the United States had started putting forward unclear demands, disrupting the compromise that had previously been reached.

At the same time, he suggested that Russian and American representatives may continue to hold informal negotiations and consultations.

Russia Refers to the 'Spirit of Anchorage'

On May 22, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov explained what Moscow means by the term "the Spirit of Anchorage."

According to the diplomat, Russia is referring to the atmosphere of trust that developed between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, which made it possible to agree on the basic framework for a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine during the Alaska summit.

Earlier, political analyst and President of the Russian Association of Public Relations (RASO), as well as head of the Minchenko Consulting communications holding, Yevgeny Minchenko, stated that the United States had itself moved away from the agreements reached with Russia in Anchorage last year, causing the peace settlement process on Ukraine to stall.