Kremlin said, on Wednesday, that communication between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden, could resume if necessary despite the sanctions on Biden imposed by Moscow, CNN reported. 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in his regular conference call “If necessary, contacts [between Biden and Putin] can resume”, and added, “Imposing sanctions on [top US officials] does not mean stopping contacts”. 

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Russia, on Tuesday, sanctioned Biden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and several other officials in the administration accusing them of being ‘Russophobic‘. Russia’s move comes as a response to the slew of sanctions imposed by the US since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. The country also focused on targeting Russian oligarchs and set up a special task force to penalize any financial institutions helping them. This made some oligarchs speak out against the war and Kremlin also went on to admit that Biden’s sanctions had hurt the Russian economy. 

However, even while imposing counter-sanctions, Moscow had made it extremely clear that official relations with Washington would remain open, and if highly-placed people on the sanctions list need to be part of peace talks then efforts would be made to set things in motion. 

Biden and Putin have not spoken to each other since the invasion began. However, Biden has been particular in not escalating the situation, ensuring that American forces don’t directly run into conflicts with Russian troops. 

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The statement from the Kremlin official also comes at a time when the Russian oil import ban is having a global impact. Ukraine too remains hopeful of its diplomatic talks with Russia, and President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia seems to be ‘more realistic‘ now. However, Moscow maintains that its goals remain unchanged and it finds the talks with Ukraine aren’t making expected progress.