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RUSSIAN EXPERT: NO SHARP CHANGE IN RUSSIAN POLICY OF NEW BUSH ADMINISTRATION

MOSCOW, January 20 (RIA Novosti) - Condoleezza Rice assuming office of the US Secretary of State will not result in deterioration of the relations between Moscow and Washington, according to Sergei Karaganov, deputy director of the Institute of Europe under the aegis of the Russian Academy of Sciences and chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policies (SVOP).

"I think the relations between Moscow and Washington will not deteriorate. It is possible the US administration's policies towards Russia will become a bit tougher," Mr. Karaganov said.

The expert believes the relations will remain somewhat cool due to the US administration's mounting criticisms of the change in Russia's domestic policy.

"The criticisms generate a certain negative background for the relations between our countries," Karaganov admitted.

He foresees a persistent rivalry between Moscow and Washington throughout the former Soviet republics.

"Such rivalry has to be taken in stride; it is simply unavoidable in the current situation. This game will be won by he who pursues more skillful policies and become more attractive to the countries in the region," the political analyst stressed.

In Karaganov's opinion, Moscow and Washington are going to carry on their security cooperation.

"Their cooperation on stabilizing the situation in Iraq is going to be maintained and intensified. Both parties are interested in this for both economic and political considerations. Therefore, the margin for cooperation here is large," Karaganov indicated.

Overall, he expects no sharp change in U.S. policies towards Russia: "Condoleezza Rice has been rather proactive in [shaping and implementing] the administration's policies."

According to Mr. Karaganov, it is important to preserve the policy of separating the problems into those the two countries differ on and those they can cooperate on.

"I guess there will no longer be the return to the principle of linking resolution of problems with settling the existing disputes first," the political analyst said.

Responding to the question about the prospects of the upcoming Russian-American summit in the Slovak capital Bratislava on February 24, Karaganov said that new large-scale initiatives could hardly be expected from the meeting.

"Neither Americans, nor we are prepared for big ideas. The United States has been busy with two big problems - the presidential election and the situation in Iraq; for this reason, it will hardly be able to prepare an extensive agenda for the summit," he opined, "The only thing the summit will be able to do is to underline the current differences and the fields we can cooperate in."

From Mr. Karaganov's point of view, the two presidents also will talk about looking into ways to improve the bilateral relations following the spite over the election in Ukraine.

"Russia and the United States fought during the election but Europe came up on top. Europeans with no political cards to play played the key role in settling the crisis in the end," he emphasized.