Russian foreign ministry says relations with US "are on their last legs"

Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s North American Department Alexander Darchiyev has said that Russia-US relations are on their last legs.

"It is important, in our view, that the head of the [US] diplomatic mission focus not on the deterioration of already last-ditch relations, but try at least to keep them at the current level by trying to do better," he said in an interview with TASS, commenting on the role to be played by Lynne Tracy, whom the US Senate approved for the post of the American ambassador to Russia.

Tracy is the first woman to serve as US ambassador to Russia. Until recently she headed the US diplomatic mission in Armenia.