Russian president says attempts to downplay gains with US won’t work
By APSunday, July 4, 2010
Medvedev: Trying to downplay US gains fruitless
MOSCOW — In the wake of a spy scandal, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says efforts to minimize the importance of recent advances with the United States won’t be successful.
Medevedev makes the comment in a message to President Barack Obama on the U.S. Independence Day holiday.
In a Sunday statement released by the Kremlin, Medvedev does not directly mention last week’s arrest in the U.S. of 10 people accused of being Russian agents.
But, Medvedev says relations “meet the true interests of the people of our countries. This in itself makes hopeless and groundless the attempts to downplay the importance of our achievements.”
Some Russian officials have suggested the spying arrests were aimed at undermining warming relations between Moscow and Washington.
