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Top State Department official calls for patience in U.S. relations with Russia

Author: Olga Vasilyeva Section: Major Events of the Month

Issue: October 2008, Vol.3, No. 9

Tags: Burns

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Patient Relationships

Addressing the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee in September, William Burns, deputy U.S. State secretary and previously the U.S. ambassador to Moscow, said the Georgia conflict should not lead to a halt in U.S.-Russian cooperation. “There are multiple spheres of common interests and also areas of differences between Russia and United States,” he said. “We could not find a common position on the Georgia conflict, but this does not mean that we should severe cooperation with Moscow in other spheres,” he noted, calling Georgia’s decision to restore sovereignty over South Ossetia by force despite U.S. efforts and repeated warnings short-sighted.”