Russian President Vladimir Putin, visiting Cuba, said yesterday he was optimistic about the future of Washington-Moscow ties under President-elect George W. Bush.
"Currently we have no special grounds to worry about the fate of Russian-American relations," Mr Putin told a news conference in Havana on the second full day of his visit.
Mr Putin, who sent a message on Thursday congratulating Mr Bush, added, however, that Russia continued to have various "differences" with the United States, including issues of international security.
"Much will depend on the policy of the new administration. The most important thing is that all the positive things we accumulated in recent years be preserved and increased. We have ground to hope that this development is possible," he said.
"During Bush's election campaign he expressed exactly this attitude to the prospects of Russia-US relations. And judging by the staff surrounding the US president-elect, these people are quite well-known professionals who know the situation deeply in the relations between the two states."
Mr Putin underlined Moscow's outstanding points of contention with Washington.
"We have differences with the US. Our positions referring to the anti-missile defence and to the system of international security differ," he said. "We don't think that the principle of humanitarian interventions is right."
Mr Putin, who joined President Fidel Castro in publicly condemning on Thursday the US embargo on Cuba, also called for a narrowing of wealth differences between "the golden billion" and the rest of the world's population.
Asked about the effect of the recent jailing, then pardon by Moscow, of American Edmond Pope, convicted of being a spy, he said it should not have any lasting impact on US-Russian ties. "The activities of secret services of any state is aimed to protect state interests. But actions of these services, including intelligence and counterintelligence, shouldn't interfere in relations between states," Mr Putin said.
Mr Putin wound down his historic Cuba visit yesterday by hailing the dawn of a new era of warm ties with President Castro but without solving any of their outstanding disputes.
Two of his biggest disappointments were his failure to resolve the future of a half-built Russian-technology nuclear power plant in Cuba's Cienfuegos province, for whose upkeep Moscow still pays, or the fate of Havana's $11 billion Russian debt.