MOSCOW. July 8 (Interfax) - Moscow appreciates Washington's effort to initiate direct Russia-Ukraine talks and sees a potential for expanding relations with the United States, but has not revised the list of unfriendly countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"The list has not been altered so far," Peskov told the press on Tuesday.
"Indeed, we highly appreciate the efforts of the United States, including personally President Trump and members of his team, to initiate a direct negotiating process between Russia and Ukraine. Of course, we believe that our countries have a very large potential for resetting trade and economic relations and launching numerous projects in the economy, mutual investments, trade and so on," Peskov said.
Such projects are in demand by business communities in both countries and can bring large revenues, yet the United States has a number of restrictions on Russia, he said.
"We believe that these sanctions are illegal and harm both our and U.S. entrepreneurs," Peskov said.
He was asked in which case the Russian list of unfriendly countries might be revised to exclude the US from it.
"Of course, the list of unfriendly countries may be reviewed, this is not a dogma," Peskov said.
A country is unfriendly "as long as it takes unfriendly actions against our state," he said.
"Once such actions stop and the stage of normalizing and restoring bilateral relations begins, revising the list may be on the agenda," Peskov said.