US Secretary Of State Meets Russian Foreign Minister In Moscow

Talks between Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and US Secretary of State Colin Powell who arrived in Russia the day before on a working visit are being held in Moscow. Moscow hopes that the forthcoming Moscow contacts between Powell and the Russian leadership will be aimed at consolidating positive dynamics in Russian-US relations and at shaping a stable model of pragmatic interaction between the two countries. Russia's rapprochement with the USA does not signify any change of Moscow's foreign policy line in Asia. As they note in Moscow, Russia still considers its political and economic presence in the Asia-Pacific region to be a major priority of its foreign policy, and intends to build it up and strengthen it in every possible way, being guided both by its national interests and by the striving to help strengthen stability and security in the APR. There must not be any doubts in stability of the Russian-Chinese interaction, Moscow stresses. The claims that Russia, drawing closer to the USA, allegedly "betrays" the interests of its Asian partners, of China in particular, "are absolutely groundless and are of a clearly provocative character, and are aimed at driving a wedge between Moscow and Beijing". Russia and China are close partners in strategic interaction and, proceeding from this, both Russian-US and Sino-US relations are important. Russia has a stake in non-existence of any "dark spots" in relations between Beijing and Washington, and in resolution of some or other problems, existing between them, on the basis of respect for the mutual interests and non-interference in home affairs.