CLINTON AND MEDVEDEV RECALL PROTOCOLS SIGNING CEREMONY

Tert.am
14.10.09

The meeting between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. State
Secretary Hillary Clinton took place yesterday at the Russian
President’s Barvikha residence just outside Moscow, reports the
Kremlin’s official website. During the meeting, Medvedev noted that
"our coooperation with the new U.S. administration enters a new
high level."

"And, generally, I would like to distinguish recent events: the
St. Petersburg summit and the UN General Assembly, as well as that
period when you, together with Mr. Lavrov, participated in the
difficult process between Armenian and Turkish sides during the
signing of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols in Zurich. I believe that
this is a good example of our coordination in international issues,"
noted Medvedev.

The U.S. State Secretary expressed hope that the strategic relations
between Russia and the United States would broaden and deepen. However,
Clinton pointed out a few differences between Moscow’s and Washington’s
official positions.

Despite a thaw in Russian-US relations, Clinton admitted that
Georgia was a policy area on which Washington and Moscow did not see
eye-to-eye, reports AFP.

"We will not see eye-to-eye on Georgia, for example. We just have
a difference of opinion. We have made it clear that we will not
recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia," Clinton added.

Ties between the two former Cold War foes were badly strained by
Russia’s war with US-ally Georgia last August and Russia’s subsequent
recognition of the Georgian rebel regions of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia as independent.