Russia, US should overcome stagnation in bilateral relations
Moscow | Thursday, Nov 12 2009 IST
 

Ahead of Russian President Dmitry Medvedevs meeting with his US counterpart Barack Obama, at the sidelines of APEC Summit at Singapore next week, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged that two countries should overcome the ''stagnation'' in bilateral relations that was observed under the Bush administration.

''We note the striving of Barack Obama and his team to put into practice the pledges made during his election campaign. The pledges that he voiced at the meetings with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in London, Moscow and on the sidelines of the G-20 summits,'' Lavrov said yesterday in an interview with the Russian state cable television channel Vesti. ''Both Presidents are unanimous in the opinion that we should overcome the slackness in the relations between Moscow and Washington that was observed under the Bush administration, when good personal relations did not turn into real partnership,'' he said. On NATOs expansion towards the borders of Russia, he said the logic of alliances enlargement is vicious and do not correspond to modern realities. ''NATOs enlargement do not take into account tectonic shifts in geopolitics on the turn of the 1990s,'' he pointed out.

''Serious European states understand that the situation is wrong that is why more and more countries uphold Mr Medvedevs proposal to start a new European security treaty,'' Mr Lavrov noted. Mr Lavrov recalled that the formation of the Russia-NATO Council was based on indivisible security. ''This political obligation is effective till now. But the obligation does not transform into concrete affairs. We see NATO partners to create risks to our security. It is necessary to do anything,'' he said. Mr Lavrov also confirmed Russias interest in making the new European security treaty legally binding for everyone. ''We will promote our proposal, including within the Russia-NATO Council meetings due to take place in the beginning of December,'' he said. He also said the talks on a new Russia-EU partnership agreement are going quite well.

''The talks on a new partnership agreement are going quite well, but I would like to step up this process,'' he said.

''A decision to start talks on a new basic agreement was taken at the Russia-EU summit in Khanty-Mansiisk. It was not Russias guilt that the talks had been delayed,'' Lavrov added.

-- (UNI) -- 12DF3.xml

 

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