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US ambassador thinks 2002 was good year in relations with Russia

MOSCOW. Jan 8 (Interfax) - U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow believes that 2002 has brought Russia and the United States closer together.

"I think this was a very good year for Russian-American relations," Vershbow said. Both countries have reached "extraordinary cooperation in the war against terrorism, which has brought our countries much closer together in the last year and a half," he said.

The ambassador recalled that in 2002 a new partnership was launched between NATO and Russia, in which the U.S. and Russia played leading roles. "I think it has helped the bilateral relationship, as well as Russia's relationship with Europe," he said.

Vershbow said that the U.S. and Russia have worked together on very difficult issues. "Here I would point to Iraq, where I think we have both focused on the kind of challenge from Saddam Hussein to the international community, both his violation of the UN resolutions and his efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction. We have, without necessarily agreeing 100%, managed to find a common approach," Vershbow said.

"Of course, it doesn't mean that we don't have some differences. We continue to have concerns about Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran. We have sometimes taken different tactical approaches to some international issues. But we, I think, more and more recognize that our interests are converging and we are defending the same values on the international stage. And that for me provides a source for optimism that 2003 will be even better than 2002," Vershbow said.

As an example of a positive achievement, the ambassador mentioned the results of an opinion poll, which show that, in contrast to other parts of the world the attitude of Russian people towards Americans improved in 2002. "At the start of the year, 47% of the Russian public had a positive opinion of the United States, and by the end of the year it had risen to 61%. So I take that as a positive reflection of the strengthening of our relations, I think it's recognition that our countries now have more in common," Vershbow said.

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