Obama: Medvedev - convinced Patriot

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is a convinced patriot who admits that "the path to prosperity goes through cooperation with the outside world." This was stated by US President Barack Obama in an interview with ITAR-TASS, Russia-24 and Rossiy Gazeta. "I think President Medvedev is a convinced patriot. He fiercely defends Russian interests. But he also admits that the path to prosperity for Russia goes through cooperation with the outside world on a bilateral and multilateral basis. As a result, he enjoys wide respect," Obama said.

"Immediately after the election, I turned to President Medvedev and, in my opinion, we established an extremely successful partnership in terms of" rebooting ". For example, a contract for STARTS. It would not have happened if we had not developed good relations. We now have a bilateral presidential commission, which is engaged in a wide range of issues. We are going on schedule to finally complete the process according to the process of 18 years. WTO, ”said the US President.

According to Obama, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fully supports the reloading process. “As a result of all this, our relations, in my opinion, have improved greatly over the past two years. As for further advancement, I believe that the key is in the economy. President Medvedev is talking about modernization in Russia. Russia has tremendous potential - and not only because of its natural resources and producing industries like oil,” Obama said.

Recently, relations between the United States and Russia have become somewhat aggravated. In particular, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed dissatisfaction with the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by the occupied territories. The resolution adopted by the US Senate in Abkhazia and South Ossetia is “nothing more than the PR exercise undertaken in order to“ celebrate ”on the“ Georgian plot ”, said the official representative of the Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich.“ The statements that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are allegedly occupied by the Russian Federation, have no actual or legal grounds, ”said the diplomat.

On July 28, Dmitry Medvedev instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to draw up a list of American citizens whose entry will be prohibited to Russia. Such a step will be taken in response to the sanctions of the US State Department against Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of the lawyer of the Hermitage Capital Foundation Sergei Magnitsky. This was stated by Presidential press secretary Natalya Timakova. She noted that the position of the US State Department caused "bewilderment" from the Kremlin, since the American side took on "unusual" functions for itself, without waiting for the decision of Russian courts in the case of the death of Magnitsky in jail. Earlier on the eve of the Russian Foreign Ministry, they said that Moscow would not leave the visa restrictions introduced by the US State Department against Russian officials.

On July 28, The Washington Times published a secret report to the CIA, which states that the explosion at the US Embassy in Tbilisi, which occurred last fall, coordinated the Russian GRU. The publication refers to two unnamed sources in the US government. According to them, the report confirms the results of the investigation conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. “He confirms the Georgian version of events,” one of the sources said. According to another source, the report mentions the name of Major Borisov, who is involved in explosions.

On July 27, the deputy assistant to US Secretary of State Thomas Melia expressed concerns that "the parliamentary elections in Russia will not meet international standards in December." He called Russia "perhaps the most difficult challenge of democratic reforms in Europe." According to him, in Russia "there is clearly a pressure on the democratic opposition and the free press." In particular, Melia allocated a refusal to register the Party of People's Freedom. "Russia invited the OSCE experts to clarify the needs of the mission of observers on the eve of the elections. It is important that Moscow extend the official invitation for it without any restrictions," the representative of the State Department said.

In June, it was reported that in case of refusal to register the Party of Folk Freedom, Washington may introduce visa and economic sanctions against Russian officials. Congress and the White House are ready to expand the so -called "Magnitsky List" at the expense of Russian officials who prevent the free will of citizens.