New Russian ambassador tells Trump he will work to restore relations

(Reuters) -The new Russian ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, pledged to work to fully restore relations with Washington as he formally presented his credentials to President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Russian news agencies reported.

"Russia and the United States are destined, as great powers, to have non-confrontational peaceful existence," the agencies quoted Darchiev as telling a reception at Russian embassy after returning from the White House.

"It was a great honour for me, as Russian ambassador, to speak with President Trump and I assured him that I and this embassy under my direction will do everything to restore Russian-American relations and bring them back to normality and common sense."

He said Trump had found time to receive him on the eve of the Russia Day holiday - which marks Russia's 1990 declaration of sovereignty, more than a year before the Soviet collapse.

Darchiev has already completed two diplomatic stints in the United States and served as ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2021. Like other senior Russian diplomats, he has in recent years issued strong public denunciations of the United States and the West.

Washington's relations with Moscow plunged to their lowest in decades under Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, over the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. Ties have improved since Trump took office, with the two sides in contact to discuss a possible resolution to the conflict.

"We have at last moved from monologues under the previous administration and a general absence of discussion to quite a pragmatic conversation, a complicated conversation," Darchiev was quoted as saying.

The ambassador said his meeting with the U.S. president was a short one as dictated by protocol.

"Nonetheless, our discussion was very constructive," the agencies quoted him as saying.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)