--- title: U.S.-Russia Relations at Lowest Point in Memory: Ambassador description: Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the U.S., said relations are a "toxic atmosphere." canonical: https://time.com/5222055/russia-trump-uk-diplomats/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-30T13:08:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:49:51.183Z article:section: Politics og:title: Russia's Ambassador: Relations With U.S. the Worst He Can Remember og:description: "Today Russia's responsible for everything, even for bad weather" og:url: https://time.com/5222055/russia-trump-uk-diplomats/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1957246626a75267/69892c6e656a3fff0cbd406f/anatoly-antonov-russia-ambassador.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: anatoly antonov russia ambassador og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russia's Ambassador: Relations With U.S. the Worst He Can Remember twitter:description: "Today Russia's responsible for everything, even for bad weather" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1957246626a75267/69892c6e656a3fff0cbd406f/anatoly-antonov-russia-ambassador.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Russia's Ambassador Says Relations With the U.S. Are the Worst He Can Remember > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Mar 30, 2018 1:08 PM UTC  Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Russia's Ambassador to the USA Anatoly Antonov seen during a meeting with Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov at the UN Headquarters. Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Russia's Ambassador to the USA Anatoly Antonov seen during a meeting with Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov at the UN Headquarters. Alexander Shcherba—Alexander Shcherbak/TASS  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Mar 30, 2018 1:08 PM UTC The Russian ambassador to the U.S. said Friday that U.S. relations with Russia are at their lowest point in his memory after both countries expelled each other’s diplomats in an escalating [dispute](http://time.com/5220097/despite-the-apparent-bromance-trump-has-been-tough-on-russia/) over the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy. “It seems to me that atmosphere in Washington is poisoned — it’s a toxic atmosphere,” Ambassador Anatoly Antonov [told](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-russian-relations-worst-ambassador-antonov-can-remember-n861391) _Today_ show anchor Savannah Guthrie. “I don’t remember such \[a\] bad shape of our relations.” The diplomatic fallout follows Russia’s alleged poisoning of an ex-spy in the United Kingdom earlier this month. That incident prompted the U.S. to [expel 60 Russian diplomats](http://time.com/5215331/us-expels-russian-diplomats/) and close the Russian consulate in Seattle. Russia replied by expelling the same number of U.S. diplomats. > [](https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/979676804175802369) The U.K. has said that the victims were hit with a Soviet-era nerve agent likely produced in Russia. Prime Minister Theresa May challenged the Russian government to provide an alternate explanation. Still, Russia has repeatedly denied responsibility for the attack — a denial Antonov repeated to NBC. “Today Russia’s responsible for everything, even for bad weather,” he said. “It’s high time for us to stop blaming each other. It’s high time for us to start a real conversation about real problems.” Antonov also denied Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia sought to sway the election in favor of President Trump. > [](https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/979677921093783552) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5222055/russia-trump-uk-diplomats/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5222055/russia-trump-uk-diplomats/"},"headline":"Russia's Ambassador Says Relations With the U.S. Are the Worst He Can Remember","datePublished":"2018-03-30T13:08:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:49:51.183Z","description":"\"Today Russia's responsible for everything, even for bad weather\"","url":"https://time.com/5222055/russia-trump-uk-diplomats/","keywords":["russia","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1957246626a75267/69892c6e656a3fff0cbd406f/anatoly-antonov-russia-ambassador.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1957246626a75267/69892c6e656a3fff0cbd406f/anatoly-antonov-russia-ambassador.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"anatoly antonov russia ambassador","caption":"anatoly antonov russia ambassador","creditText":"Alexander Shcherba—Alexander Shcherbak/TASS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5222055/russia-trump-uk-diplomats/","name":"Russia's Ambassador Says Relations With the U.S. Are the Worst He Can Remember"}}]}] ```