Russia Says Tensions with US Getting Close to 'Dangerous' Confrontation On 7/21/21 at 11:56 PM EDT Russia's top diplomat has warned that relations with the United States have deteriorated to the point of a potentially disastrous standoff between Washington and Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry held a board meeting Wednesday led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who discussed along with his colleagues the current state of the U.S.-Russia relationship. Following the talks, the ministry released a statement characterizing the participants' views of the tortured ties between the two powers. "It was noted during the discussion that bilateral relations had approached a dangerous confrontational threshold through the fault of Washington," the ministry said, "who have provoked an unprecedented escalation between our states over the recent years."