Although the top envoy did not say that Washington-Moscow relations were at their all-time low, Sullivan noted that it was “as bad as can be”.
“US-Russia relations were bad when I arrived here in January 2020,” and “since then they have only gotten worse and have spiraled downward,” he said.
In an interview from Moscow with Alisyn Camerota on CNN Newsroom, Sullivan said there had been “very little engagement with the Russian government.” and his messages focused on the detained US citizens and “the functioning of our embassy,” which is under severe restrictions by the Russian government.
On Wednesday, American Trevor Reed was released from Russian custody in a prisoner swap — a major development in which Sullivan played a key role. However, other Americans remain incarcerated, including Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, the latter of whom has questioned why he was “left behind.”“Why was I left behind? While I’m glad Trevor is home with his family, I’ve been held for 40 months on a fictional espionage charge,” Whelan said in a statement to his parents, sharing it with CNN. “The world knows these charges were fabricated. Why wasn’t more done to secure my release?”
Sullivan told CNN that he “couldn’t agree more with Paul in the sense that he was convicted of a fabricated charge.”
“I publicly advocated his release in negotiations with the Russian government before coming here as ambassador when I was deputy foreign minister when Paul was originally arrested in December 2018,” he said.
“I have never relented in my advocacy for Paul in engagement with the Russian government, for Paul’s release,” Sullivan added, noting that “this case, Trevor’s case, is just one step.”
On the Russian war in Ukraine, Sullivan suggested it was up to one man – Russian President Vladimir Putin – to end the brutal conflict.
“This war started with a decision by President Putin; this war will end with a decision by President Putin,” he said, adding that the United States “will do everything we can to ensure that this decision is a strategic defeat for him and his government, and not a Victory for him in Ukraine.”
The US ambassador said rhetoric about Russia’s potential use of nuclear weapons had recently escalated in a “dramatically irresponsible manner” but noted it was “not new”, citing pre-war conversations leading to warnings of a nuclear confrontation would “spiral” if this were the case. The US and NATO continued to support Ukraine.
“And my reaction from across the table is astonishment,” Sullivan said. “And unfortunately, lately we have seen an escalation of this rhetoric at the highest levels of the US government.”
Sullivan said the US scaled back in response, noting that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin halted and then canceled a missile test despite advance planning and notification to the Russian government.
“We do not engage in irresponsible rhetoric about nuclear weapons,” Sullivan told CNN.
The US is “ready to deter nuclear aggression against the United States,” he added.
“We will not succumb to nuclear blackmail, but we will not tolerate nuclear saber-rattling and nuclear brinksmanship,” he said.