MOSCOW, August 2 (Itar-Tass) - The leaders of Russia and the U.S. have been coping successfully as yet with the negative influence on the bilateral relations from the situation around the CIA’s former agent Edward Snowden, Director of European Security Centre Tatyana Parkhalina told Itar-Tass on Friday.
“I believe, the leaders both of the U.S. and Russia as yet have enough common sense not to translate the incident with Snowden on the bilateral relations, which are complicated anyway,” she said.
U.S.-Russia relations have been experiencing not the best of times, Parkhalina said.
“The reasons are numerous: the tension over the START talks, the Magnitsky list, the “anti-child” law, and thus the relations’ curve is looking down, of course.”
She added that the situation around Snowden is “a newsbreak, which Russian and Western media have stirred up too much.”
“I wish to hope that both Russian and American leaders will have enough common sense to stop here and not to hinder each other, as the bilateral relations do have serious overdue issues,” the expert said. “Those are problems of security, fighting terrorism, and finally, economic cooperation, which surely should develop. The two sides cannot afford to continue spoiling the relations.”