WASHINGTON, April 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian
ambassador to the U.S. said Monday the key task in bilateral
relations is to overcome the stereotypes the two countries have.
"Our relations are being built with good intentions, but
we are preserving old stereotypes," Sergei Kislyak said while
addressing participants at the 28th annual Russian forum:
America and Russia: New Leadership, Challenges, Chances.
Kislyak said the most vivid example of the influence of
these stereotypes was evident through the reaction by the
United States to the war last August in South Ossetia - "poorly
calculated, badly thought-out and to a larger extent
instinctive."
Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as
independent states after a five-day war in August 2008 with
Georgia, which attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it
back under central control. Most residents of both Abkhazia and
South Ossetia have held Russian citizenship for several years.
However, Kislyak said there is evidence that relations are
warming and that the sides are getting closer to each other and
cited arms reduction treaty talks and nonproliferation issues.
He said trade turnover last year was $36 billion.
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