A combination of file photos show Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) at a news conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Feb. 28, 2017 and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on June 1, 2017. (Xinhua)

MOSCOW, July 31 (Xinhua) -- It is important for Washington to show political will and discard attempts of sanctions diktat for the sake of improving relations between Russia and the United States, the Kremlin said Monday.

"The way out of this situation is through displaying political will to normalize relations, recovering from an aggravation of political schizophrenia, manifesting the desire to normalize these relations, and abandoning attempts of sanction diktat," said Russian presidential secretary Dmitry Peskov, according to Sputnik.

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill slapping tougher sanctions on Russia, which is waiting President Donald Trump to sign into law or veto.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Sunday that Moscow will reduce the U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia by 755 people.

Peskov said Washington will be left to decide on the name list of employees of its diplomatic missions in Russia to dismiss, which could be both U.S. and Russian nationals.

"This is up to the United States... This is both diplomats and people without the diplomatic status and those who were employed on site -- Russian nationals who work there," he said.

The Kremlin spokesman added that Russia reserves the right to take additional countermeasures against the United States, although it still hopes to continue cooperation with the latter in certain areas.

"On the whole, Russia is interested in continuing cooperation (with the U.S.) where this is in our interests... The president considers it appropriate to continue cooperation in these areas," he said.

According to Putin, crucial areas of cooperation for the two countries include the joint actions against terrorism, and obligations in nuclear arms control and space projects.