Medvedev: US need not abandon Ukraine or Georgia

MOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said U.S. efforts to mend relations with Moscow need not be made at the expense of Washington’s ties to Ukraine and Georgia.

Medvedev’s comments, broadcast Friday, were clearly meant to send a positive signal about the potential for warmer relations with the United States after his summit this month with President Barack Obama.

“We need normal, working, friendly relations with the U.S. — mutually beneficial relations,” Medvedev said in an excerpt from an interview with Russia’s NTV television. “Much depends on this.”

“But this does not mean that our relations (with the U.S.) must lead to the deterioration of our ties with other countries or of U.S. relations with some other countries, whether it is Ukraine or Georgia,” he said.

The Kremlin has often bristled at Washington’s close relations with the pro-Western leaders of Ukraine and Georgia. Georgia’s drive to join NATO added to tensions that preceded Russia’s war with the ex-Soviet republic last summer.

Since the war, Russia has persistently warned the U.S. not to rearm Georgia, and has ignored Western anger over its recognition of two Moscow-backed separatist regions in Georgia as independent nations.

The war drove already strained relations between Russia and the U.S. to a post-Cold War low. Obama has declared his intention to “reset” those ties, and both sides saw the July 6-8 Moscow summit as a chance to begin.

Medvedev’s words echoed U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s message in a trip this week to Ukraine and Georgia. Biden assured those countries their interests would not be sacrificed for the sake of better relations with Russia, contending that better ties between the U.S. and Russia could work in their favor.

In Friday’s broadcast, Medvedev said, “I don’t think it is right for the relations with Russia to be reset — to use the American terminology — at the expense of some other countries,” Medvedev said.

During Biden’s visit to the two countries, he expressed support for their efforts to break out of Russia’s orbit and emphasized that Washington would not recognize Kremlin claims to an exclusive sphere of influence over former Soviet states — a direct rebuke to Medvedev’s declaration after the war that Moscow has a “zone of privileged interests” in the region.

In the NTV interview, Medvedev said that Russia wants constructive relations with other countries but will not be pushed around — a stance often asserted by his tougher-talking predecessor Vladimir Putin, who is now prime minister.

Russia should project an image that is “comfortable for those we deal with,” Medvedev said. “Of course, should not put spikes in anyone’s path, but at the same time, when some difficulties arise we must be capable of giving a response. Sometimes a tough response. Sometimes a very tough response.”