Putin says Russia doesn't want return to Cold War

President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that Russia wants to maintain normal relations with the West and doesn't need a replay of the Cold War, news reports said.

Photo: Putin says Russia doesn't want return to Cold War

Putin says Russia doesn't want return to Cold War

"We will be building our relations with our Western partners in a patient and calm manner," Putin said during a meeting with state television executives and journalists, according to the ITAR-Tass, Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies.

"I have already said that we will not return to the Cold War period ... in our policy or defense strategy," Putin said, adding that he underlined that message in his state of the nation address.

In Wednesday's speech, Putin responded sarcastically to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's criticism of Russia's democratic record and said that the nation needs a strong military to resist foreign pressure.

"If we don't poke our nose into somebody else's business and don't declare the whole world a zone of our influence, our available resources are quite sufficient for us to ensure our own security, to build absolutely reliable guarantees for our security despite any prospective (weapons) developments they may be talking about," Putin said Saturday, according to Russian news reports.

Putin said in his state of the nation address that the government would work to strengthen the nation's nuclear deterrent as well as conventional military forces without repeating the mistakes of the Cold War era, when a costly arms race against the U.S. drained Soviet resources.

He said in Wednesday's address that the new Bulava and Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles and warheads, which can foil defenses by changing direction in flight, would allow Russia to preserve a strategic balance without denting the nation's economic development goals, reports AP.

O.Ch.