MOSCOW. Aug 22 (Interfax) - Russia is disappointed at the United States' refusal to attend the Moscow Format meeting on Afghanistan on September 4, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
"We have learned with regret from the United States Department of State's statement that the Americans will not take part in the Moscow Format meeting on September 4, to which representatives of Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, and five Central Asian countries have also been invited," the ministry said.
"Admittedly, this step does not cause great surprise," it said.
The U.S. ignored a similar meeting in April 2017 "under the pretext of the unpreparedness of the new American strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia," the ministry said.
"This time they are presenting the artificial thesis that the United States refuses, on the basis of principled considerations, to participate in events not organized by Afghans. This is a clearly false excuse: Washington is well aware that the Moscow meeting will be co-chaired by Russia and Afghanistan," it said.
"It seems that the Americans want to participate in nothing but meetings organized under their supervision and meeting the interests of no one but the United States," the ministry said.
A representative of the U.S. State Department told Interfax on Tuesday that the U.S. would not be participating in the September 4 meeting.