Kremlin hopes Russia, US not to have pauses in ties over US polls

TOYAKO (Japan), July 6 (Itar-Tass) -- The Kremlin hopes to avoid a
pause in the development of Russian-US relations that may be caused by the forthcoming US presidential elections at the yearend, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said in comments on an upcoming meeting of the presidents of the countries at a G8 summit in Japan on July 7.
On Sunday, after the visit to Kazakhstan Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev will leave for a G8 summit, which will be held on the Japanese island of Hokkaido on July 7-9. On the first day of the summit Medvedev will have a bilateral meeting with US counterpart George Bush. The Russian president will take advantage of an opportunity to congratulate the US president on his 62nd birthday on July 6.
"It is extremely important to avoid any pause in the development of Russian-US strategic cooperation on the international scene during this period of the domestic political life in the United States," Prikhodko said, meaning the forthcoming US presidential elections in November 2008. "We will do our best to keep up and develop a positive trend achieved in international, anti-terrorist and regional cooperation," the presidential aide added.
Prikhodko emphasized that the election process in Russia did not
affect the cooperation with the U.S. "Our transition period is already in the past, and it is only in store for the Americans," he pointed out. "We managed to keep the continuity in the foreign policy," the Russian presidential aide believes. "The situation in the U.S. is more difficult, and we do not want it to affect the large-scale cooperation in international affairs, as the responsibility of our countries in resolving many world problems is very big," Prikhodko said.
"For us the U.S. is an important partner, and in this context we
consider an upcoming meeting," he said. "We want to give this signal," he added. "We intend to continue the dialog on all issues without any delays and pauses," the presidential aide remarked.
"It would be particularly important for the Russia side to make sure that the current US administration does not intend to slow down in our dialog. We have in store half a year of the full-fledged work with the Bush administration, we have many current issues, which we hope to resolve or at least make progress in them for the remaining period of time," Prikhodko added.
The Russian presidential aide called the forthcoming meeting "a good opportunity to discuss not only some issues put on the agenda of the G8 summit, but also topical bilateral problems, particularly in their global dimension, as Russian-US relations go far beyond the bilateral format and actually embrace the whole scope of international relations."
Medvedev and Bush will meet for the second time in the capacity of
presidents. Last time they met in Sochi in April 2008. "The acquaintance of the presidents was successful. They have established not only normal working ties, but also friendly relations," Prikhodko said.
"This time the meeting of the leaders will be particularly important in view of keeping up the continuity in our relations that was observed in Sochi," the Russian presidential aide added.