U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan will return to Moscow this week, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday.

“We remain committed to open channels of communication with the Russian Government,” Price told reporters in a phone brief. “Both as a means to advance U.S. interests but also to reduce the risk of miscalculation between our two countries.”

He also said Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov had returned to Washington D.C.

Tensions escalated between Washington and Moscow earlier this year. The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled Antonov in March to conduct high-level consultations in Moscow. Sullivan left Russia for similar reasons in April.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in Geneva last week that their respective ambassadors would return to their posts soon.

The two presidents have both described their talks as frank, with Putin describing Biden, a veteran politician, as a “professional” who was “very attentive” in their talks.

U.S.-Russia relations are at their lowest point in years. The two sides have sharp differences over Ukraine, cybersecurity, human rights, and U.S. election interference.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the Biden administration is preparing additional sanctions against Russia over the alleged poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

The U.S. intelligence community assessed that officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service used a nerve agent known as Novichok to poison Navalny on Aug. 20, 2020.

Russia has repeatedly denied such accusations, saying the Navalny case is a purely domestic affair and foreign intervention is not allowed.

(SD-Xinhua)