Russian lawmaker says Obama admits isolating Russia is impossible

MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/. The top foreign policy parliamentarian in Russia's State Duma assembly said on Friday that US President Barack Obama had "actually acknowledged" that it was impossible to isolate Russia.

After Moscow’s commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War Two, "it has become clear that a policy of Russia’s maximum isolation has failed to produce desired results," said Alexey Pushkov, head of the International Affairs Committee at the Russian parliament's lower chamber. "If Obama claims again today that he has isolated Russia he will be a laughing stock," he said.

"It is impossible to talk about isolation when within three days Moscow was visited by leaders of China, India, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Vietnam, Germany, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovakia and many other states," Pushkov noted.

"When Obama himself could not stand his own isolation and urgently sent his Secretary of State John Kerry to us for extensive and long negotiations, he therefore actually acknowledged that such a country as Russia cannot be isolated, and by trying to isolate Russia, you are left on the margins of the political process and deprive yourself of important foreign-policy leverage," he added.