Russian president says US 'spoiled relations' so it's up to new US president to improve ties

Source: Chicago Tribune

MOSCOW (AP) _ Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he expects the next U.S. administration to improve the two countries' strained relations and urged Washington to remember that "mutual interests outweigh some disagreements" during global crises.

"This was so in World War I and World War II. We in Russia have never forgotten this. We would like our American partners to remember this as well," Putin was quoted as saying in an interview published Saturday in the French daily Le Figaro.

A Russian transcript was posted on the government's Web site.

"During (Abraham) Lincoln's time, a U.S. statesman who was secretary of state at the time said that we (Americans) prefer relations with Russia to relations with all other European countries if only because Russia always wishes us well," Putin said.

He said although ages have passed since Lincoln's time, "when global crises have emerged in the world, Russia and the U.S. have always been together."

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