MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. Russia will continue close cooperation with the countries of the global South and East even if its relations with the US warm up, according to Fyodor Voitolovsky, director of the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
"Any fears that Russia will pivot to interaction with the US and turn away from its strategic partners in the slightest – they are, in my opinion, not justified in any way," he told reporters following a meeting of the Russian Security Council's research and analysis board.
According to the analyst, Russia will definitely not downgrade relations with the countries of the global South and East if Moscow’s relations with Washington improve.
"For many years Russia has been developing relations of strategic partnership with the People's Republic of China and strategic partnership with the Republic of India. We are actively developing trade and economic ties with ASEAN countries and a number of countries in the Middle East. And, in my opinion, this trend is systemic trend, long-term," Voitolovsky said.
"Our relations with the US have experienced ups and downs many times, but if we look at our relations with China and India over the past 30 years, these are relations of rising trust, trade, economic ties and cooperation in a whole number of areas," he continued.
"Of course, we would like to hope that US-Russia relations have passed the trough and will reach new tracks of interaction in the trade and economic, scientific, educational and other areas, but what we have so far is just prerequisites for this," Voitolovsky said. "There are some grounds for very cautious optimism, given the momentum of high-level contacts between Moscow and Washington."