MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes that the United States and European countries will realize that it is better to be friends than to be at loggerheads with Russia.
"I don’t think the current problems (tensions between Russia and western countries - TASS) will last forever. I believe that our European neighbours are coming to see that it is better to work together and be friends than to keep telling us we are wrong. I hope the United States and its leadership will eventually see this as well. Our door is open," he said in an interview with Kommersant daily.
"The more so that it was not us who initiated the sanctions campaign, restrictions, the expulsion of diplomats and economic pressure," he noted. "In this sense, the ball has always been in their court. They only need to indicate a desire to resume relations. We are always ready and willing," Medvedev stressed.
Asked whether the initiative to sign a European security treaty proposed by Russia before the conflict with Georgia might be revived, PM said that "nothing is ever laid to rest in international affairs," and "any idea can be revived, if there is the will."
Russia and western countries were "able to rise above these problems despite the August 2008 conflict," Medvedev said. "In a manner of speaking, we did this also with the United States: we signed the New START Treaty and discussed different options for European security treaties. We joined the Partnership for Modernisation with a few dozen other countries," he specified.