Upon completion of US visit, Russian Foreign Minister leaves New York for Moscow

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, having completed his visit to the USA, on Monday flew over from New York to Moscow.

It is for the first time that the head of the Russian diplomatic agency marks his birthday on board the airliner.

The RIA Novosti correspondent reports that during his 30-day stay in the USA Igor Ivanov took part in the work of the 57th session of the UN General Assembly and visited Washington. In the US capital, in line with the decisions of the presidents of Russia and the USA, the maiden session of the Russian-American consultative group on strategic security issues was held with the participation of the heads of the foreign policy and defense agencies of Russia and the USA.

The session's participants were received by US President George Bush.

At the final press conference the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that "it was very important for us to hear about the US Administration's stance, and the stance of George Bush first and foremost, on key international issues." The meeting in Washington has demonstrated that there exist no serious differences in Russian-US relations. The US side intends to firmly follow the course of long-term strategic partnership.

The Russian Foreign Minister also pointed out that for the first time after the end of the Second World War Russia and the USA became allies in combating international terrorism.

Moscow and Washington share the stance that taking into account the fact that the Russian Federation and the USA possess big nuclear potentials, global strategic stability and security depend to a great extent on Russian-US relations.

Baghdad's consent to re-admit international inspectors to Iraq without any preliminary conditions is, undoubtedly, a great success of the Russian diplomacy.

The Russian delegation during the work of the 57th session of the UN General Assembly and then at the meeting with US President George Bush, voiced the Russian leadership's stand on the situation on the Russian-Georgian frontier. Irrefutable facts were presented to the effect that Georgia's officials maintain contacts with terrorists. The head of the Russian diplomatic agency said that this proved either the inability of Tbilisi to withstand terrorist single-handed or its policy of deliberate connivance at terrorists for the benefit of its own political interests. It is significant that such an approach was received with understanding by the US administration and by the international community.