Moscow, July 02: Ahead of US President Barack Obama's
maiden three-day Russia visit beginning next week, his Russian
counterpart Dmitry Medvedev has said the bilateral relations
between the two former foes have reached Cold War levels.
"Unfortunately, relations between our two countries have
worsened over these last years. A crisis of confidence, lack
of action, unwillingness to take any new steps -- call it what
you will, but the fact remains that, although our countries'
presidents had a good personal rapport, Russian-US relations
declined to a level practically on a par with the Cold War
era," Medvedev said in his video blog posted on the Kremlin
website.
Welcoming Obama administration's willingness to press
the "reset" button to change the situation, Medvedev expressed
readiness to respond accordingly.
"The new administration headed by President Obama is
showing its willingness to change the situation and build more
effective, reliable, and ultimately more modern relations. We
are ready to play our part," the President stated.
He said there are problems of international security like
the fight against terrorism, extremism, proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, and drugs trafficking which the
two nuclear superpowers simply cannot resolve on their own,
acting unilaterally.
"Our two nations have a great responsibility in this
respect, for our relations will have a direct impact on
shaping the state of our world over these coming decades.
No
matter who is president of Russia or the United States, they
will always bear this special responsibility for the decisions
they make. They will always be responsible before their
countries and the entire world," Medvedev underscored in his
video blog.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, July 02, 2009, 21:43