Kremlin Cheers Obama’s Re-Election - East Idaho News
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Kremlin Cheers Obama’s Re-Election

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GETTY W 030512 VladimirPutin?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1352285597653Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(MOSCOW) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory note to President Obama, his spokesman said. 

The Kremlin says they’ll make the text public once Obama has received it.  Putin is also expected to call Obama personally “in the near future.”

“In general, the Kremlin took the news about Barack Obama’s victory in the elections very positively,” spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency.

“We have the hope that positive initiatives in bilateral relations and in Russian-U.S. interaction on the international arena in the interests of international security and stability will be developed and improved,” he added.

It’s perhaps not surprising that the Kremlin is happy with the outcome of the election, especially since Obama told then-President Dmitry Medvedev earlier this year that he would have more flexibility to negotiate with Russia on missile defense after the election.

Now the prime minister, Medvedev told reporters in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday that he’s glad Romney didn’t win.

“I am glad that the man who calls Russia it’s No. 1 foe will not be the president of this large and influential state.  That is paranoid,” he said, according to Interfax.

“Obama is an understandable and predictable partner,” Medvedev added, all in response to questions.

“There have been both successes and failures in the reset of Russia-U.S. relations, and this policy should be carried on,” he said, suggesting that now U.S.-Russian relations will “be basically normal.”

In an interview with the Moscow News on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow is prepared to cooperate with the Obama administration, saying “We are prepared to go as far as the U.S. administration is prepared to go on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect.”

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