Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with US President Barak Obama, who called to congratulate him on his victory in the presidential election
"The nearly 20-minute telephone conversation between the two leaders was informal in character and quite substantive." This, according to the prime minister's aide for international affairs, Yury Ushakov.
The US president expressed the hope that "the positive trends that have emerged between the two counties over recent years would continue to develop," Ushakov said. President Obama, in Ushakov's words, expressed an interest in cooperating closely with the president elect of the Russian Federation on bilateral issues including the economy and the international agenda.
Vladimir Putin, for his part, thanked Barak Obama for his congratulations and stressed the great importance of Russia-US cooperation for world security, particularly in view of current turbulent developments.
Vladimir Putin also commended recent shifts in bilateral relations that have been expressed in, among other things, the signing of the New START Treaty and in the productive talks on Russia's WTO accession.
At the same time, the president elect of the Russian Federation pointed to differences on antimissile defense issue between Moscow and Washington, and observed that progress on economic issues was not as strong as it is on political ones. Vladimir Putin believes that trade and economic relations between the two countries have much potential and that developing them "will make it possible to create a safety net enabling us to protect bilateral political relations from transient fluctuations."
Vladimir Putin and Barak Obama noted that many criticisms had been aimed at each of them during the election campaigns in both countries, but that this was done in the heat of election struggles and should not influence the onward development of Russian-American interaction. According to Vladimir Putin, there is every ground for a qualitative breakthrough in bilateral relations.
Vladimir Putin wished Barak Obama success in the election campaign that is building in the United States.
Ushakov said that both men expressed the desire to hold a Russian-American summit soon.
Putin and Obama said they would maintain contact prior to their upcoming personal meeting.
