US has lost ability to conduct diplomacy: Russian analyst

The US and its allies lack any ability to engage in diplomacy with other countries and instead focus on threatening others with military action or sanctions to pressure them into submission, says a political analyst in Moscow.

“The problem is that the United States and the EU have lost their ability to do real diplomacy,” Dmitry Babich told Press TV on Saturday.

“They only pressure people or they make them to be their allies,” noted Babich, who is with the Sputnik news agency. “When you threaten with sanctions or with a new war, this is not diplomacy,” he added.

Babich added that Washington began threatening Moscow with more economic embargoes after Russia’s successful military campaign against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group in Syria.

Russia began its air campaign in Syria on September 30, 2015, at the request of the Damascus government.

The US and EU previously imposed several sets of economic sanctions against Russia over the conflict in east Ukraine. Moscow denies any involvement in Ukraine's crisis.

“The United States, during the last two years, [has made] constant pressure, constant threats of more sanctions or the deployment of new forces on the border with Russia,” Babich said.

On Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Russia to change its military targets in Syria and reiterated sanctions threat over Ukraine.

"To date, the vast majority of Russia's attacks have been against legitimate opposition groups," Kerry said of Moscow's airstrikes in support of Syrian forces.

"To adhere to the agreement it made, we think it is critical that Russia's targeting change," he added during a speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

The comments came a day after Kerry stated that the United States and Russia had agreed to implement nationwide cessation of hostilities in Syria, noting that all members of the International Syria Support Group agree that peace talks in Geneva should resume “as soon as possible.”

Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since 2011, which has claimed the lives of more than 260,000 people so far, according to the United Nations.

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