‘The simplest things’: Ex-Russian Ambassador Kislyak opens up on what he discussed with Flynn
Sergey Kislyak © Joshua Roberts / Reuters
“I do not comment on our daily contacts with our colleagues. Secondly, I had instructions not to discuss sanctions. We never discussed sanctions with anybody. And I assure you, I have honestly followed the instructions,” Kislyak told Rossiya-24.
“Sanctions aren’t our thing,” the retired diplomat said. “We don’t discuss or bargain about sanctions, because we believe they were implemented in an illegal, politically aggressive way to begin with.”
‘American exceptionalism is the problem’
While it would be difficult to lift the newly-imposed restrictive measures, Kislyak does not believe the US and Russia are back to the Cold War.
“No, it’s not the Cold War,” he said. “The problem in our relations, as I have tried to say, is in the sense of absolute exceptionalism of the Americans and their purported right to tell everyone else what is good and what is bad.”
The former Russian envoy to Washington blasted the sanctions, which he believes are aimed at impeding normal economic cooperation between Russia and the US.
“The economic sanctions, which we have been lately discussing a lot, were designed so that it will be very difficult to cancel them under the current conditions in America,” Kislyak said.
“The whole mechanism is made so that the US law would not give the opportunity to develop normality in economic relations with our country,” he added.
‘No secrets on our part’
Commenting on his conversation with former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Kislyak said they were openly discussing “the simplest things.”
“We spoke about the simplest things… But the communication was completely specific, quiet, absolutely transparent. There were no secrets, at least on our part,” he stated.
After Flynn’s resignation in February, media outlets speculated over the content and consequences of his phone call with the Russian ambassador, which he had failed to report. Some claimed the main topic of the conversation was economic sanctions against Russia, though Flynn did not confirm it.
Kislyak declined to comment on the resignation, saying it is an American domestic issue.
The US never invited Kislyak to speak in front of a grand jury investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Kislyak called the procedure “far-fetched” and said that the US government has “jumped at a litigation built around false information,” wasting time that could be used on issues that really matter to Americans.
Meeting foreign officials is what diplomats do
While the Trump election campaign team has been repeatedly accused of having links with Russia, Hillary Clinton’s representatives refused to meet with the Russian ambassador.
“I can give you a long list of those from Clinton’s team who I wanted to visit, and they shied away from it. It’s quite a big list,” Kislyak said.
He added that, like any professional diplomat, he used every opportunity to build normal bilateral relations, trying to meet with different people, including those from the Democratic Party.
Near the end of Kislyak’s tenure in the US, he faced allegations of working for Russian intelligence and was even called a “top spy and recruiter of spies” by CNN. The diplomat believes that even implying such things shames the US.
“I believe that all the talks about the fact that I, the ambassador of the Russian Federation, am a spy, are shameful for a country like America,” Kislyak said.
“What has become normal to talk about now – how the Russian ambassador is wiretapped, how bugs were installed into his phone – it is becoming normal for America. It is an unhealthy society,” he said, adding that the FBI finally acknowledged that he was a diplomat, not a spy.
WarSclerotic 
August 5, 2017 at 3:31 PM
Is It Real
One day
we open our eyes
and there it is.
The world opens up to us,
all that we can see.
We move within our view,
learning as we go.
But, can we trust
what we see?
Is it real?
What is “real”?
Does anyone really know?
Quantum scientists
tell us at the
quantum level
reality is probabilistic.
What?
The fundamental
nature of reality
cannot be determined?
Does this mean
reality has
no substance
all we see is
just an illusion?
Are we just
constructs
in a fuzzy
reality that’s just a
sum of probabilities.
Are we just
ghosts
in a universe
of possibilities?
What are the
odds of that?
August 5, 2017 at 3:50 PM
The reality and the real reality , we are ” living” in a translation of the reality .
A reality built up and indoctrinated of agreements
August 5, 2017 at 3:39 PM
Normalcy
What is normal?
We live in a world
where everything seems
normal.
if you’re human,
It’s normal
to have two eyes
and one head.
It’s normal
to live on a ball
floating
in a limitless
void.
It’s normal
to have two sexes
for procreation.
It’s normal
for the sky
to be blue and the
grass to be green.
Everything we see
seems normal to us.
But what else
can we believe?
We’re custom made
for the place.
How would we feel
if we had six eyes
and four feet?
How would we feel
if the sky was pink
and the grass
was orange?
How would we feel
if the world was flat
and went on forever?
If born
into this kind
of universe
we’d feel it’s
normal.
Normal is a
relative term.
Question everything,
because nothing
is normal!
August 5, 2017 at 3:43 PM
Will i find you a nice square where you can orate your poems ?
August 5, 2017 at 3:59 PM
The global mind is my square.
August 5, 2017 at 4:21 PM
Perfect go global and keep a bit lower poetic level on this blog , learn to bring your stuff in ready to chew peaces now you are overwhelming and that is contra productive .
I really do not like it if i have to help you in this matter .
You know how to find Gorki park ??
August 5, 2017 at 9:06 PM
No worries, time to move on!
Hasta La Vista
August 5, 2017 at 3:42 PM
What New Realms Await
We live
in a universe
of subatomic particles,
the building blocks
of everything else.
All we can see
and touch
is made up of the stuff.
Even in the seemingly
empty void
of space
science tells us
virtual particles
pop in and out
of existence.
Reductionists
will tell us
all we need do
is understand
these subatomic particles
and we’ll
understand everything.
But I wonder
if there’s more
out there than
meets the eye.
Mathematics
for example,
the language of the universe.
Was mathematics
invented or discovered?
Was it always
out there
just waiting
for a brain of sufficient size
and complexity
to tap into its realm?
This seems to be the case.
Would E=MC2
be true here
and one billion
light years from here.
The question is then,
what other realms
might there be awaiting
discovery
when a brain
of sufficient size
and complexity
comes to be?
We’ll need to grow one
or make one
to find out.
What interesting times
await.
August 5, 2017 at 3:46 PM
Ask Enki !
Keep the mitochondria a live !
August 5, 2017 at 3:58 PM
Anything Is Possible.
Where did you come from?
Every ancestor
you ever had,
had to beget
with who they
begot.
If any link in the chain
begot with
someone different.
If someone turned
left instead of right.
You’d not be here today.
Congratulations,
by being here today
you won the
infinity lotto.
Or.
Some say
this place we exist
in is just one
of many.
They say
in fact
the number of realities
existing in parallel is
infinite.
Different links
in different chains,
infinitely so.
It was ,
therefore, inevitable
you’d appear
in at least one.
Or.
You, your soul,
your spirit,
your conciseness
is eternal.
Moving
though different realms
of existence
for any number
of reasons.
Maybe you have
much to learn
before you arrive.
Maybe
immortality
gets dull and
boring.
You live finite
packets of reality
infinitely
with no connection
to keep things fresh
and interesting.
Or
Maybe
something else
is going on.
A finite mind
can’t know all
the infinite makes
possible.
Since you can’t
know what’s possible,
anything is possible!
August 5, 2017 at 7:41 PM
Another Russian biased article. Oliver Stone comments slamming US foreign policy toward Russia is no surprise when you consider he’s Hollywood filmmaker:
According to Wiki:
“In an interview with The Times newspaper on July 25, 2010, Stone claimed that America does not know “the full story” on Iran and complained about Jewish “domination” in parts of the U.S. media and foreign policy, notably his view that Adolf Hitler was misunderstood due to Jewish control of the media. When Stone was asked why so much of an emphasis has been placed on the Holocaust, as opposed to the 20-plus million casualties the Soviet Union, for example, suffered in World War II, he stated that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was an overly powerful Jewish lobby within the U.S. The remarks were heavily criticized by Jewish groups, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center.”
He’s perfect for this article.
August 5, 2017 at 8:55 PM
Kislyak does not believe the US and Russia are back to the Cold War.
“No, it’s not the Cold War,” he said. “The problem in our relations, as I have tried to say, is in the sense of absolute exceptionalism of the Americans and their purported right to tell everyone else what is good and what is bad.”
YOU REALLY NEED NEW GLASSES , there is no shame in that !
August 5, 2017 at 9:50 PM
What I really need is a new boat.
August 5, 2017 at 9:54 PM
Check out these outboard motors, Joop. The top model only costs $90k and produces over 600hp.
http://www.seven-marine.com/
A bit out of my price range, but I’d love to see them in the flesh.
August 5, 2017 at 10:12 PM
Yep , great stuff , made by Volvo Penta , i love their inboard marine diesel engines have some experience with them .
Correction , not made but owned by Volvo Penta !
August 5, 2017 at 10:18 PM
Each 627hp unit contains a 6.2 liter V8 Corvette engine. Here’s a vid on a boat equipped with three of these puppys.
August 5, 2017 at 10:26 PM
amazing engines, but this boat is so overpowered , it can make the same speed with a lot less !
August 5, 2017 at 10:33 PM
Old habits LS ?
Need for speed ?
August 7, 2017 at 1:41 AM
Power is fun, Joop. I’ve had 3 Corvettes and had one hell of a good time with them all. A boat like this would be thrilling, but you seem to be a bit took practical living off the grid and all.
August 7, 2017 at 4:39 AM
O well what can i tell you , after my ac Cobra and split window Corvette and the Aston martin of my friend i had to slow down with some Beamers and Mercedeses , i refuse to participate in the first 2 Paris Dakar fun, could no bring up the money, but speed nah never have bin interested !
And let me tell you the country roads to travel to count monkey buts are not so nice for my MB compressor so i have to buy me a Jeep .
The MB is just for long distance shopping trips on the Toll roads .
August 5, 2017 at 10:13 PM
sorry i can not help you with that .
To ,hasty, i found you this !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BmWcpnysyQ
August 7, 2017 at 1:45 AM
I didn’t know they raised the TItanic.
August 7, 2017 at 4:59 AM
I do not know about that but we raised the Kursk !
August 5, 2017 at 9:07 PM
It is hard to swallow but with Trump it is over, 3 Generals are baby sitting him , swallowed up by the deep state , only allowed to keep the people under-control with lesser important issues !
Lets make war !
August 5, 2017 at 9:51 PM
Right now we’re in a cold civil war.
August 5, 2017 at 10:16 PM
Nope, not even close , the battle is only at goverment level , the good guys are going as usual to work and the rest do theirs usual things , nothing happens .
The keyboard loudmouth warriors idiots are all over the place , but they will not bring a bright future !
August 7, 2017 at 1:46 AM
You don’t even live in the States. How would you know.
August 7, 2017 at 4:42 AM
Extended traveling 35 USA states and 45 years interest in geo politics and a lot more !
August 7, 2017 at 4:58 AM
There ate 330 million people inn the US and 260 million does know nothing at all , so what are you saying ?
The population in Europe are zombies but you guys are as usual exceptional in this matter .
That exceptional is that genetic or indoctrinated from birth on, something like moslimes they have also that exceptional feeling and thinking if the world belongs to them !
August 7, 2017 at 5:04 AM
How would you know ?
http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/08/06/mcmaster-worked-think-tank-backed-soros-funded-group-helped-obama-sell-iran-nuclear-deal/
August 7, 2017 at 3:04 PM
Respectfully, I totally disagree having lived 65 years, worked 47 years, and run an accounting practice for 35 years…. and a lot more.
August 7, 2017 at 4:03 PM
Aha a lot more , that is the need for speed , ex rum runner ??
You know accounting and what has that to do with the geo politics of the USA .
You see it from the inside at best , and i see it from the outside without that Americanism filter , the good and the bad .
August 7, 2017 at 6:47 PM
Rum runner? Too many movies with nothing else to do in the jungle. eh Joop? You seem to have no first-hand knowledge about what’s going on since you seem to rely exclusively on third parties and google searches to see what’s going on outside the jungle. That pretty much sums it up, right?
August 7, 2017 at 7:10 PM
It makes me happy if it makes you happy !
You are so funny , so movingly .
To Have and Have Not
August 7, 2017 at 7:50 PM
In spite of our differences Joop, I do like you and enjoy some of our exchanges…not all, but many.
August 7, 2017 at 9:06 PM
I,am smiling now .