MOSCOW. Jan 23 (Interfax) - Missile defense remains the major irritant in Russia-U.S. relations, but some new factors have added lately, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a press conference dedicated to last year's results.
"There are still some irritants, and missile defense is the main one. But we remain open to the dialogue," Lavrov said.
"New irritants have added to the missile defense irritation," he said.
"In particular, this is the Sergei Magnitsky Act I have already mentioned: a human tragedy was cynically used to punish Russia," Lavrov remarked.
Speaking of missile defense, the foreign minister said that the U.S. partners supported the dialogue but "were already planning and deploying elements of global missile defense" in disregard of the Russian opinion.
"They sort of offer to continue the dialogue but do what they have decided to do," Lavrov remarked.