Russian scientist: the USA and Russia attained progress in the military-political sphere, but not in the economic sphere

Russia and the United States have attained significant progress in military-political cooperation, but not in the economic interaction. Director of the Institute of the USA and Canada Sergei Rogov expressed this opinion during a press conference in RIA Novosti on Friday. According to Rogov, the USA and Russia made the first steps toward establishing long-term partnership. He believes that the current situation dispelled the doubts of some experts who predicted that the partnership between Russia and the U.S. founded during the joint operation in Afghanistan won't last long. "Our cooperation is steadily growing and strengthening," said Rogov.

At the same time, he emphasized, despite the fact that we attained major progress in the military-political sphere, we "never got anywhere" in terms of economic cooperation. In particular, the Jackson-Vanik amendment has not been lifted yet. On the contrary, it has become "some sort of a symbol, a stigma indicating the marginal status of Russia." "That's why we can't affirm that Russian-American relations have matured. It would also be a mistake to claim that the development of our partnership passed the point of no return," he stressed. "Therefore we must improve the mechanisms of our cooperation." "Under favourable circumstances, the process of consolidation will take several years at least. If the consolidation finally takes place, it would mark a turning point in the process of strengthening global stability and security," concluded the Russian scientist.